Dead Screams
by Niko
Summary: Dib's new friends are Zim's worse nightmares, but is Dib right and they're just having fun or is Zim who believes they want to kill Dib? Perhaps Dib's real problems exist in his college roommate. ZADR planned.
1. The Jezebel

Back again with another fic (because I am an unstoppable death machine ^,~) They always say you're only as good as your last fic. God I hope I don't ruin my good fortune, seeing that BS and FPP have gotten such great reviews! But hey, I've gotta prove I'm not a one trick pony! This one hit wonder will rise from the ashes of failure! (damn Gundam Wing and Digimon...)   
  
As always, Zim, Dib and Invader Zim are not my property, but belong to Jhonen! I do however own Jax and Nye...sadly. Oh and blame Nye for the R rating. It only gets worse from here on, too.   
  
Sorry if the writing sucks, especially after the scene break. Real Life (yes, the biggest bitch of them all) has zapped most of my creativity through agonizing depression. But I MUST prevail because, like Gir, I will explode if I don't write. It happens to me sometimes.   
  
I swear, I'm gonna write a comedy one of these days. I've got the best idea too so no one take it! When I'm in a funny mood perhaps I will share this fic with everyone...   
  
  
  
***   
  
  
At the Jezebel lights, music, and action floated in a vortex of flesh and sweat, reflecting off of the emotions and adrenaline that rushed through like a rapid pulse. Bodies ground against each other on the dance floor in mimicked sexual prowess, thrusting and caressing with a shadow lover to the beat of re-mixed lust. Smoke from machines and red painted lips put a haze on the crowd like fog over London, filling the easily subjected minds with mystic, faraway thoughts. Glasses clinked in drunken cheers, while corners hid the drugged up prophets preaching words of love and free statement. The smells that permeated the red velvet sofas and black leather bar stools polluted the mind and teased the senses with the musk and promise of sex. People could come alive behind the ruby door with the flashing neon sign. The Jezebel was a place for the zombies of the day to remember the full moon and the creatures of the night to feed on the power of persuasion in the mix of music and scantly clad fairies that almost floated through the musky mist.  
  
Jax shielded his eyes from the off beat strobe lights that flickered like soundless lightning as he wandered towards the bar, random hands stretching out to touch his suede covered ass as he half danced to the back of the room. It was almost considered rude not to caress objects one observed worthy or desirable. With his unkempt moss green hair and exposed, defined chest whispered with glitter, pants that hung dangerously low off of his hips and bright blue eyes lined in coal, the young man was used to the attention.   
  
The bar was suddenly spread before him; the line between dance floor and disgruntled drunks was small but clear and a breath of fresh air from the confined mass of bodies. The bartender looked up with a look of recognition, letting the towel in his hand stop it's circular movements over the clean stretch of the plastic and metal counter.   
  
"What the fuck you want?" The voice was strung with a jesting humor and the youthful face alight with mischief. The bartender pointed to an open seat and waited for Jax to seat himself. "My manager's in back so order whatever. Fucking lunatic. Why the fuck's he care if you're a minor?"   
  
Jax smiled. "I'm good. I'm gonna head out of here soon anyway, Nye."   
  
The bartender spat, throwing his dirty towel in Jax's face. "See if I fuckin' get you in 'ere next time, if you're gonna be a pussy and leave before midnight."   
  
"It's two in the morning, Nye."   
  
"Don't correct me!" Nye took back his dirty towel and laid it back on the countertop, blowing his blond bangs out of jade eyes. "Just get the fuck outta here. And take that nut case friend of yours with you! I ain't draggin' his sorry ass back to the dorms."   
  
Jax took a momentary pause to look around, surveying the occupied stools for any familiar faces. "Where is he?"   
  
"How the fuck should I know? I'm a fucking bartender! I tend the fucking bar. I don't wander around looking for fucking freshman who get lost in the fucking club!"   
  
"Workin' ya hard?"   
  
"Open to fucking closing!" Nye tossed a bottled beer to a customer. "Damned stoner fuck."   
  
Jax sighed in pity, straightening up and stretching just a tad to relieve his muscles. "Guess I'll see you back at the house, then."   
  
"Not fucking likely!" Nye shouted over the crowd as Jax moved back into the mass of dancing ravers.   
  
Jax melted into the group like teenage hearts over pop gods while the speakers busted hateful lyrics to killer beats. Every color of the rainbow flowed before him in a sea of Goths and preps alike, flaming red hair chasing violet like pixilated video games. On one of the ruby sofas sat a black figure, seemingly oblivious to the frantic fever of the room. Jax smiled smugly to himself, swerving around a couple that had forgotten the world in their rapture and pleasure pursuit. His feet cascaded across the slick floor for an eternity until his hands grazed the soft velvet and eyes captured the pale radiance that sat upon it.   
  
"Ya had enough, Dib?" Jax took his hand from the cloth and rested it against the mesh-covered shoulder, shaking him slightly. "Come on. I'm gonna take you home."   
  
Dib's head bobbed up and down until at last a thread of vomit spewed from his lips and splashed against the dance floor. None seemed to notice, even though the very smell threatened Jax's own internal expulsion. He looked away with a grimace, biting his lip as he thought of what to do with the inebriated youth. "Aw, Dib...you're gonna get Nye fired." Deciding on the original plan, and hoping to spare Nye from any unneeded explanations to his employer, Jax leaned down and put one arm around his friend's bare midriff. "Don't make me carry you outta here, Dib. Put your arm around my shoulders and help me out, okay?"   
  
Dib made his best impression of a nod as he gracelessly pulled his arm up and around his friend and allowed himself to be escorted into the streets where the air was fresh and cool.   
  
**   
  
College dorms were small no matter which building one stayed in. The two-person living space consisted of a small bathroom, two closets, two desks and two beds, with too little room between for movement. Perhaps it was an exaggeration, but Zim missed his endless labs and house back in what he'd learned to call Home. College life was so different from his life before, even before Earth. Whether it was better or worse didn't ring clear. It was just different.   
  
The late night/early morning knock on the door wasn't though. It was routine enough to make the Irkin sick.   
  
Tossing his legs over the side of the bed and wincing as his bare feet came into contact with the cold, hardwood floor, Zim stood, letting the covers fall to the bed. He soundlessly walked to the door, not even bothering with the peephole or cracking it open just enough to see who stood there. He merely opened the door and stood back, waiting for someone to drag his roommate in.   
  
As usual, it was Jax. Zim sneered audibly, following his back as he drifted in like bad luck and deposited Dib on his bed.   
  
"What is it this time?" he spat, unable to keep the loathing from his voice.   
  
The tall figure stood, his bushy hair and blue eyes the only thing visible in his silhouette. "I guess he drank too much. I really wasn't watching him."   
  
Zim was holding the door open, waiting for the unwanted visitor to get the idea and leave already.   
  
Jax shuddered at the coldness in the weird green guy's posture and speech, making his way around him and out the door as quickly as possible. "Sorry about this. Tell Dib I'll see him tomorrow."   
  
The door slammed shut between "sor" and "ry".   
  
Zim turned the lights of the room on, washing Dib in color that he otherwise lacked. His skin was deathly pale; had always been as long as he had known him. The black clothing only helped aid the ghostly appearance. Zim walked purposely towards the other's bed, hovering over his with a set grimace.   
  
"Well, Dib, did you have fun?"   
  
Dib didn't say a word. His head lolled to one side.   
  
Slightly worried, Zim sat on the edge of the bed and turned Dib's head towards him. Apparently Jax had helped him get ready for the night. They both shared the same black outlined eyes and rivers of glitter sparkled across the translucent skin. The eyes were half open, tiny slits of life under black lashes. Dib seemed to look up at Zim, cringing immediately and closing his eyes.   
  
"What happened?" Dib asked, keeping his eyes firmly closed.   
  
Zim hissed. "I should be asking you that. How many times is someone going to have to bring you back before you learn your limit?"   
  
Dib swallowed, shaking his head slowly. "I meant to you..."   
  
"To me?" Zim looked over himself quickly. He looked just about as normal as anyone would after being woken up at two in the morning. He was bare-chested in pajama bottoms of fuchsia and red, moonlight filtering in and illuminating him by the window over Dib's bed.   
  
"You're covered in blood..." Dib muttered, opening one eye and closing it immediately afterwards.   
  
Zim's eyes widened madly. There was not a trace of blood anywhere. "Dib...are you..." He put one had on either side of his roommate's face, angling it with his own. With his thumbs, he pried the eyelids up, gasping and internally cursing. The once golden eyes were nothing but black with the expanse of his pupils. "Shit, Dib, what did you do?"   
  
Dib ripped Zim's hands from his face, screaming at the top of his lungs. "Get off me! Don't bleed on me! Your blood is like acid!" He curled up into a ball as Zim pushed himself away from the bed, looking down upon the scene. "It burns! Oh God... Make it stop!"   
  
Zim cringed, watching the obvious pain play across the other's face, though there was nothing physically hurting him. Zim stepped closer, daring to lean over the bed as he had done before. "Dib, there's nothing there," he said firmly. "There's no blood. It's all in your head."   
  
Dib seemed to calm down a bit, but his hands continued gliding up and down his arms to sooth the burning. "Make it stop, Zim. Make it stop," he pleaded, his closed eyes turning towards the direction of Zim's voice.   
  
The Irkin laid his hand once more on the young man's flesh, only to hear him scream out again.   
  
"Oh God...why does it have to hurt?"   
  
Fed up and seriously freaked out, Zim hastily lifted the human from the bed with a series of pained shouts and moans from invisible injuries. With just as much warning as he had given before lifting the crazed youth, Zim set him down into the bathtub.   
  
Apparently it was a worse idea than touching him.   
  
Dib's screams reached a new level as he clawed at the sides of the tub, his fingertips raw as they scathed the smooth surface furiously.   
  
"No! I'm alive! Don't bury me! Please! I'm alive! I don't want to be in here!"   
  
Zim shrank back, his right hand reaching out and turning on the shower. The cold water burst out faster than he had anticipated, a few drops sprinkling his bare flesh. With a hiss of real pain, not imagined as Dib's was, Zim pulled his hand back, putting it to his mouth and attempting to suck the hurt away.   
  
Perhaps it was then that he realized Dib was no longer screaming.   
  
"Dib?" Zim let his hand fall from his lips   
  
Dib turned his head, his eyes opening. Zim had seen zombies, monsters and demons, but only now had he seen what darkness birthed those horrors. It was in Dib's eyes: round and black, with running make-up making black tear-like streaks over pale skin, glitter masquerading as shattered dreams. Dib's bottom lip quivered to the same beat as his body. Zim realized he'd left the water on cold and quickly turned it off.   
  
The human stared at him, the dead eyes reminding the Irkin of a puppet or doll. Dib made a few choking sounds as he tried to vomit, only succeeding in dry heaves and making his insides lurch.   
  
"What the hell happened to you..." Zim asked, unable to sound angry even though fury ran through his every cell.   
  
Dib's voice wavered as his body continued to shake. "I don't understand what's going on..." He sounded like a lost child, his arms snaking around his knees as he curled into a ball, continuing to rock.   
  
Zim raked his fingers through the wet and glitter-gel-matted hair, wiping it away from the human's face. "You're on something," he said coolly, trying not to alarm his roommate further. The wet youth began to sob.   
  
"Why did you put me in this coffin?" he asked. "I don't like the dark...things can get you in the dark. They live under the ground. Did you know that?"   
  
Zim shook his head. "Dib, you're not in a coffin. You're in our bathtub."   
  
"They're the same ones that live under your bed. They wait for you underground. That's where they get you. And no one can hear you scream because they think you're dead and the dead don't scream."   
  
Zim wanted to close his ears, wishing he were still in bed and that Dib had been able to walk himself home. "Shut up, Dib. Just shut up!"   
  
Dib continued to rock himself. "I don't want to shut up. If I stop then I'll be dead. Dead people don't scream, Zim. Dead people don't scream." He curled up tighter, hiding from the visions that plagued his vision even when his eyes were closed. "She screamed, Zim. That's how I knew. I've always known."   
  
The tile made a sickening crack as Dib threw his head back, smashing it into the hard wall. Zim jumped, drawing the human to him, even though his chest was unprotected from the cool, wet water. Dib seemed fazed, still conscious but obviously affected by the impact.   
  
"Damn it, Dib!" Zim checked his eyes for signs of a concussion, but with all the other symptoms flowing through his weak earth body, it was near impossible to tell. He dragged him out of the tub, immediately setting forth to rip the wet clothing from his body until all that was left was wet flesh on the cool tile. He rubbed the human down with towels until he was dry enough for Zim to hold without killing himself in the process.   
  
Zim carried him back to his own bed, laying him on the side near the wall and scooting in behind him, his arms instantly surrounding the frightened human. "You have to stay awake for me, Dib," he murmured, adjusting their positions so Zim was sitting up with his back against the wall and Dib's head rested in his lap. Dib was unresponsive. "Dib, open your eyes real quick. Let me see them."   
  
The tired lids flickered open, a small band of gold outlining the black.   
  
"When she stopped screaming, I knew they had gotten her," Dib continued, his brows pinched in pain.   
  
"Don't do this, Dib." Zim bit his lip, watching the head in his lap stare into nothingness as if everything existed within it. "You've gotta get better. How long is this supposed to last?"   
  
Tears ran down the human's face, though his mouth quirked into a smile. "I'm scared, Zim…"   
  
The Irkin nodded, looking away from the sickening sight before him. "I'm gonna have to wake you up every five minutes, Dib. But try to get some sleep. It'll be better in the morning."   
  
Silently he prayed he was right.   
  
  
**   
  
  
  
I wish I had written that better. Consider this a teaser. Perhaps I'll write that last part again and fix it up....   
  
~Niko 


	2. Humpty Dumpty

I'm straying from my original idea a bit, but that's okay. I'm still gonna have the important stuff I hope. Anyway, hopefully this will raise a few questions and not give everything away (because I'm bad at that). Thank you Karyx for beta-ing again!  
  
  
  
And if people seem OOC, just hold on. There's a reason for everything... (I hope ^,~)   
  
  
  
***   
  
  
While some mornings begin with birds chirping outside the window and sunlight streaming into one's eyes, this one seemed to awaken to an entirely different beat.   
  
Zim sat on his bed, looking dazed as Dib stood before him, the blankets wrapped around his naked waste and a blushing scowl on his face. By the count of three he had fallen to the floor, dry heaving whatever his body believed was left in his stomach. Zim watched him patiently, waiting and watching with his breath help and fingers crossed.   
  
"What...what's wrong with me?" Dib asked, looking sideways up at Zim. "Why am I naked? Why was I in your bed? I..." He closed his eyes, holding his head in his hands. "I can't remember...."   
  
Zim sighed in relief, letting his anger come through, finally, after carrying it around all night. "I guess we figured out why things like this keep happening then. If you can't remember, how are you supposed to learn?" he said sarcastically. "Damn it, Dib, Jax carried your sorry ass home from the club last night cause you were too doped up to do anything else."   
  
Dib shook his head. "I don't do drugs," he said flatly.   
  
"You wanna tell me what the fuck you were on last night then?" Zim narrowed his ruby gaze, a bit annoyed that Dib was still looking into the palms of his hands and not at the Irkin's incredible death glare. "Must have been one hell of a drink! I've been nursing your hangovers all year, Dib. Every time Jax or Nye drags your inebriated ass home, I deal with you. I've never seen you like last night, Dib." He kicked the human in the shoulder, finally grabbing his attention. "Don't lie to me. I just spent half the night watching my worst nightmares dance in your eyes. I deserve to know what was going on."   
  
Dib shook his head. "I don't do drugs, Zim. I'm not stupid."   
  
"If you think I don't know drunk from stoned, then I say you are."   
  
Dib's eyes fell from Zim's and landed on the green chest. There were interesting burns all across his body. "What happened to you?"   
  
Zim winced, memories of the night before flashing in his eyes.   
  
/What happened to you…? you're covered in blood…/   
  
"I tried to get you to snap out of it by throwing you in the tub." He gestured towards Dib's own state of dress. "You hit your head and I was afraid you might have given yourself a concussion, so I had to take your wet things off before I could watch over you."   
  
That sounded innocent enough. Dib swallowed down invisible bile. "I'm sorry about this, Zim. I don't mean to come back like this."   
  
"Yes you do," Zim spat, looking away from Dib's hurt statement. "Hanging around with people like Jax and Nye is trouble to begin with."   
  
"You don't know them."   
  
"I know that whenever something happens they let it fall in my hands, namely you. I know Nye's part of the frat on Seventeenth Street that's rumored to be involved in a lot of bad crap, Dib."   
  
"That's all it is, Zim. Rumors. And I don't remember putting you in charge of my life."   
  
Zim laid his head back against his pillow, crossing his legs over the sheets. "You're so blind, Dib."   
  
Dib took that as the end of discussion and tried to stand, only to fall back to his knees as a wave of nausea passed over him. His whole body felt dirty, like someone had filled his veins full of raw sewage and replaced his brain with space bolts and bottle caps. He weakly crawled the rest of the way to his bed, discarding Zim's blanket in favor of his own and rolling up deep into the security of warmth. The bedside clock flashed noon in irritating red lights. Cursing lightly to himself, Dib rolled over. There was no way he was going to face classes today. Especially not with partial memories beating in his skull. He closed his eyes and prepared to sleep.   
  
/Screaming. She screamed because she was still alive. I could hear her. No one else could, but I could still hear her screaming. Even when they pushed the dirt back into the six-foot deep hole I could hear her. It was just like it had been in the car. The way she had smiled at me.... She never stopped screaming. I could see her face, her mouth wide open and her eyes never blinking. Blood dripped off of her, splashing onto me. Please, mommy, stop bleeding on me! It's icky! Please, mommy. Don't bleed on me..../   
  
Dib's eyes went wide for a moment only to close again, his fingers wanting to claw his them out. Oh god...why did he remember that? He curled up on himself, feeling a dizziness pass over him. He tried to think of the previous night, visions amidst gods and demons in the floating dreams of fantasy and horror. He remembered dancing, not being very good at it originally, but finding that, when all you had to do was rub up against someone, it was rather difficult to be bad. He remembered drinking. Nye was good about hooking minors up with stuff. Dib tried to remember just how much alcohol he'd acquired over the course of the night but gave up in futility. That night was lost to him outside of the flashing images of bodies, music and blood.   
  
His stomach growled. Dib tried to ignore the hunger, knowing pretty well that anything he ate would be flying a round trip. His mouth tasted bad, like someone had used his teeth to clean off the bottom of their shoes while his tongue gave them a good shine. More than all of that, his head hurt. He could feel without touching the supposed spot he'd smacked into the bathroom tile. There was also a hangover to deal with and whatever else decided to join in for the ride. Whatever else....   
  
Dib turned back over to look at the Irkin, embarrassed to admit what he had said was probably true. "Zim?"   
  
Zim looked asleep, his arms thrown to the sides and one leg bent at the knee with the sheet draped over it. He answered as if programmed to do so, his tone neutral and husky in his morning voice. "Yes, Dib?"   
  
"I think someone put something in my drink."   
  
There was a slight pause filled with the rumpling of sheets as Zim turned over, facing Dib's side of the room. "Be more careful next time. Alright?"   
  
Dib nodded, snuggling deeper into his warm recesses of his blanket, not to emerge for hours.   
  
  
**   
  
"OUCH! DAMN IT, DIB!"   
  
Dib pulled back, dodging the green fists before tackling him again, pressing down with the medicated pad over Zim's burns. "If you hold still I can be more gentle!"   
  
"Gentle my ass! You'll skewer me!" Zim swatted the human away again, hissing at the stupid ointment his roommate was trying to administer.   
  
Dib pulled back, his eyes lowering in scrutiny. "With a cotton ball?" The Irkin paused, as if seeing the light of the situation. "Look, I know they're tender. If you sit back I'll do my best to make this as painless as possible," Dib promised.   
  
With great deliberation, Zim leaned back against the wall and allowed Dib to dab the medicated cotton swab over the assorted burns. It still stung but he tried to concentrate on other things, like the glitter that still hung in the black hair, that had been recently washed and the eyeliner that hugged the very tips of his lids.   
  
Dib, on the other hand, was playing "name that burn." As he went over each welted mark of skin, he recognized patterns. Up by Zim's sternum was an almost perfect replica of Dib's ear burned into the green flesh. The curved and mesh design one under his ribs was obviously Dib's shoulder and the mesh material of his shirt. He could follow the length of his own arm from ribs to right hip and under Zim's chin were strands of burns from his hair. "That was a stupid thing to do," he noted out loud.   
  
"What was I supposed to do?" Zim hissed.   
  
Dib took the medication over the shoulder marking again. "Remember that you're an Irkin. Remember your paste bathing stuff is back at your base."   
  
"All while you scream about blood and coffins? Sure, next time I'll remember that." Zim shook his head, gazing towards the opened bathroom door. "You scared me to death last night. If it looks like I wasn't thinking, it's because I wasn't. I was too worried about you."   
  
Dib took the swab from the green skin and set it on the bedside table, reaching for the gauze. "Too worried to look out for yourself?"   
  
Zim didn't dignify him with response. He lifted his arms and leaned forward so Dib could get his arms around him with the gauze. Zim's face hovered by Dib's left ear; his eyes closed as he felt the human gently wrap him, their bodies touching every time the gauze passed behind his back. "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall," Zim muttered into Dib's ear, "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. And all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again."   
  
Dib grimaced. "Why do you always have to say that?" he asked, securing the last of the gauze and slipping off from the bed, though he was still a bit unsteady.   
  
Zim just stared at him, a knowing look on his alien face. "One of these days, Dib, I'm not going to be able to fix you. Jax and Nye are gonna push you down so low that no one will be able to pick up the pieces."   
  
"Will you stop blaming them for everything that happens?" Dib's voice rose, his arm stretching out for the desk to steady himself. "I suppose you blame them for you getting burned?"   
  
"Vicariously, yes!" Zim shouted. "If you hadn't gone out with them and gotten wasted and stoned, you wouldn't have needed my help and I wouldn't have gotten in the water!"   
  
"I never asked for your help!"   
  
"Yes you did!"   
  
Dib bit his tongue, his eyes narrowing in rage. "I don't know how I ended up with you as a roommate anyway! This has to be someone's sick idea of a joke!"   
  
"I'll tell you a sick joke! You thinking Jax and Nye care anything about your welfare!"   
  
"And you do!?" Dib turned away, going through his desk drawers for money. "Fuck you! You don't run my life, Zim!"   
  
"Well someone has to, because you certainly can't!" Zim walked over and pulled Dib's stash of money from the human's sock drawer, hidden in the one pair of white socks. "Here, this is what you were looking for."   
  
Dib took it, his face red and anger fuming. "You think you know so much? You think you know Jax and Nye? You think you know ME?" Dib restrained himself from throwing the closed fist he'd made at his side. "You don't know anything! So just stay out of my life!"   
  
Zim's face was neutral again, his voice an expressionless mask. "You're so blind, Dib."   
  
In a flash the black-haired human was gone through the front door, the loud slam of it's return to the frame echoing in the small two-person dorm room with the too little space between the beds.   
  
**   
  
Hehehe, knowing the back story I find all this humorous ^,~   
  
~Niko 


	3. Only Human

AHHHHH! Anime Orgy tonight! I get to hang out with a bunch of band nerds and play DDR while my brother's girlfriend bitches about us watching "cartoons." Weehooo! I'll gladly suffer through that to watch Slayers (even thought I kinda own all three series...) It's more fun in a group! I hope...   
  
Thanks again, Karyx, my faithful beta reader ^,~   
  
**   
  
On campus eateries were many and closely located. Some were famous chains like McMeaty's, while others were owned and operated by the board and student faculty of UNS. It was one of the university's perks. One of very few. Gang activity was moderate, drugs were frequent and there were even a few cases of prostitution. On the whole, UNS was just like any city one might stumble upon. Dib preferred to think of it more along the terms of a reservation. The campus had a law of its own, a way of living that was unlike the world on the outside. Their own voluntary seclusion from real and illusion.   
  
Dib took his tray of fruit and sandwiches to a far off table in the corner of the eating establishment. His whole body ached, but his stomach was the loudest of the cries and needed to be answered first. He had chosen the lightest foods he could think of, trying to steer clear of things that would take his recovery on a backwards trip. The beautiful people sitting with their beautiful friends looked at him from the corner of their beautiful eyes as he passed, his black trench coat billowing behind him. Dib was feeling too bad to care if they stared or not. In truth, he did feel better than he had that morning. Something about putting on fresh clothes after a long nap wrapped up in one's favorite blanket really hit the spot. There was just something about waking up naked that made him feel sick to his stomach, though. He felt awkward enough in the things Jax and Nye dressed him in: mesh shirts that may as well have not been there, as they clung to every curve of his body they caressed and conveniently left his middle bare. And there were the black leather pants that revealed all too much if he chose to sit down on a stool or any such chair that exposed his back. The dog collars and pacifiers, chains and necklaces, fake belly button rings and coal smudged eyes that were supposed to be just for fun always seemed to attract the wrong attention. Dib popped a grape in his mouth. How did Jax do it everyday?   
  
Jax was what Dib had always considered a Goth. Gaz had brought plenty of them home but he'd always thought they were like her, uninvolved and just plain scary. Jax and he were in the same biology class in this, their freshman year at UNS, and had proved by piercing his fetal pig's nose and putting eyeliner and glitter on it, that he was more fun than freaky. Jax dressed as if all of life was a party, earrings littering his body in a glow of metal, in tight and revealing clothing that made whores gawk. As if he'd summoned up the vision, Jax waltzed into the eatery, catching Dib's gaze in a moment and smiling until his cheeks overtook his eyes. He looked a little more modest than usual, with a yellow T-shirt on that read "ME" in red.   
  
"Hiya, Dib!" he said, taking the seat across from him and reaching over to steal a strawberry. "Looks like Zim didn't kill ya. I wish you were sober enough to have seen the look on his face. Sometimes I think he really wants to kill me!"   
  
Dib snorted. "He probably has an arsenal waiting for just that mission."   
  
Taking it as a joke, Jax laughed. "Yeah, I bet he does."   
  
"Hey, Jax...." Dib watched another strawberry disappear between Jax's lips. "Last night...what happened?"   
  
Jax shrugged. "You drank too much again? I was dancing, so I really don't know. I met this groovy chick though, Dib! You should have seen her! Double D's on a size ten, with the most amazing blue eyes!"   
  
Dib shook his head. "Jax, something happened last night. Someone put something in my drink."   
  
Jax stopped laughing and looked nervously at his friend. "Something? Like what? You okay?"   
  
Dib ran his fingers over his hair, realizing he hadn't brushed it at all. "I don't know. Zim was telling me about it. Said I was raving and practically gave myself an concussion." He let his head fall to his open palms. "This morning I kept seeing flashes of last night, some things from years ago, some things that happened when Zim was trying to get me to control myself."   
  
"Sounds like a buzzed out trip," Jax said, leaning in closer. "I'm real sorry, Dib. If I'd have known, I'd have stayed or taken you to the hospital or something."   
  
Dib scoffed. "I'm glad you didn't. I'll get expelled if I get in trouble for drinking again."   
  
"No hard feelings then!" Jax smiled, popping yet another fruit from Dib's plate into his mouth. "You hear about the party tomorrow?"   
  
Dib would have stared in disbelief, but found it was too easy to believe him as it was. "I'm partied out, Jax," he started, breaking his sandwich in two and handing the other half to his friend, "My head's still buzzing from last night."   
  
"It's an Pi Alpha Phi party," Jax sang, leaning back and eating the sandwich in one big bite.   
  
Anyone who overheard immediately went silent and leaned over to listen more intently to the private conversation. Dib's eyes bulged. "Pi Alpha Phi? How the hell did you get invited to one of those?!"   
  
"Us invited, "Jax corrected. "Nye pulled a few strings with the higher ups. They owe him for a couple of deals, so he called it in and got us passes." Jax whipped out two laminated passes with Greek symbols on them, the light flashing off of the slick surface. "What do you say? There's always time nurse a hangover later. Opportunities like these only come around once."   
  
Dib bit his bottom lip. "Zim's gonna kill me for this."   
  
"I don't see why you're still rooming with him, if he's that much of a problem."   
  
"It's not the simple," Dib muttered. "I've tried to get moved, but their computers are all messed up. They say I don't have a roommate, so the residential board just thinks I want to move closer to my friends or something."   
  
Jax shrugged. "Sucks to be you. The guy's a nut case."   
  
"You don't know the half of it. I've known him since the fourth grade."   
  
His friend whistled in astonishment. "And you're both still alive? I'd have thought you'd have killed each other off, just looking at the way you treat each other."   
  
Dib restrained the laugh that bubbled in his nose. Sometimes people were so close to the truth, it was funny. "Well he hates you, so of course he's gonna act violent around you," Dib explained. "Not to sound like I'm defending him or anything, but he can be okay sometimes. I mean, he does patch me up and keep quiet about it. And last night, he even got hurt trying to help me. I don't know. Sometimes, when I'm in the same room with him, I want to kill him."   
  
"What do you want to do to him the rest of the time?" Jax asked, lifting his brow with insinuation.   
  
Dib growled. "Jax, I doubt you'd understand. Zim is as complex as...as.... He's very complex."   
  
"Who isn't?" Jax asked. "If we weren't, we'd be boring." He seemed to sit and ponder for a while. Jax had a very obvious pondering look; he always put his index finger in his mouth, resting it on his front bottom teeth. "You know what, why not bring him with us?" Jax asked. "I'm sure Nye can get Zim in there, too."   
  
"Are you serious?" Dib's face was alight with shock. "You want to invite Zim to a party? A Pi Alpha Phi party?!"   
  
"Why not? Obviously he isn't that bad, if he's kind enough to take care of you when you party too hard. And maybe it'll make living with him more tolerable if he, you know, likes me!" Jax smiled proudly at himself. "Yeah, see, it'll work out great! You can go to the party, Zim can get to know me and Nye and everyone can go home happy!"   
  
Dib rolled his eyes, "I doubt it'll be that simple."   
  
"Ah, come on, Dib!" Jax shouted, patting him on the shoulder. "How bad can Zim be? I mean, he's only human!"   
  
**   
  
  
UNS, The University where Nickelodeon(SP) Sucks. ^,~ I will destroy Nick if it's the last thing I do for comm  
  
me and my Invader Zim. The day will come. 


	4. In His Eyes

I wanna thank ArmAndLeg, Karyx and XellossGreywords for making me feel appreciated as I sit and write. Nothing's better than knowing other people enjoy reading these things as much as I enjoy writing them. Especially seeing as I have no friends and this is all I have left to me ^,~; At least I know this is time well spent and inspiration well served. Thanks to everyone whose ever read and reviewed! I hope I continue to deserve the minutes of your life you give up to read my ramblings.   
  
  
Speaking of which, I've moved a line from my hideous comedy into this fic. Hope it catches your attention. I thought it was funny, anyway.   
  
***   
  
The door opened and closed without a knock or hesitation. Zim could see the figure moving behind him in the reflection in the computer screen that sat before him, his fingers dancing blindly over the keys. Zim sat at his computer and waited, watching discreetly.   
  
Dib pulled his dark blue, indifferent faced shirt over his head, tossing it to the floor as he flopped down on his bed with an audible groan. Everyone he knew was in class already, but Dib's head still pounded too hard and his stomach still churned. He turned his head, catching Zim's gaze in the monitor's reflection. If he wasn't mistaken, a slight flush came to the jade skin. Dib blinked a few times. His eyes felt gritty. He was probably just seeing things again.   
  
"Hey, Zim," he greeted.   
  
"Hello, Dib."   
  
Dib smiled, his mind already playing out Zim's obvious reaction to what he was going to say next. "There's a party on Seventeenth Street tonight."   
  
"You're not going."   
  
"How come I knew you were going to say that?"   
  
Zim turned around, looking into the human's real self. "Because maybe somewhere in that huge head of yours is some sense."   
  
Dib rolled onto his stomach, propping his head up on his palm. "My head is not huge! Just big boned!"   
  
Rolling his contact covered eyes Zim pushed his wheeled chair towards Dib's bed, jarring into it lightly. "Let me guess. Um...Jax and Nye will be there?"   
  
"Of course."   
  
"So I guess you want me to be here, waiting for someone to drag you home?"   
  
"No. You're coming too."   
  
Zim's face was priceless. It wasn't exactly a shocked statement, but it wasn't quite insane enough to be considered a normal Zim scowl. "Eh?"   
  
Dib rolled onto his side, his head still resting in his palm. "Jax proposes that you hang out with us tonight. He thinks it'll change your mind about him and get you off my case."   
  
"Stupid human."   
  
"That's what I said," Dib replied. "I told him you were too stuck up and stupid to leave the dorm for even a second. Must be sad to have your paranoia as your only friend."   
  
Zim glared. "You dare invoke the wrath of Zim?"   
  
"Not now, okay?" Dib squinted. "I'm still feeling kinda out of it. Later, though, I promise."   
  
Zim nodded, watching Dib watch him.   
  
"………."   
  
"………."   
  
"So you talked to Jax?"   
  
"Yeah. At the restaurant."   
  
"What did he have to say about last night?"   
  
"He doesn't know what happened," Dib assured him. "It's my own stupid fault. I need to watch my drink better."   
  
Zim nodded, one of his hands daring to lie on the sheets just a few inches from Dib. "You could always find a different way to have fun."   
  
"Like what?"   
  
Zim licked his bottom lip, his fingers tingling at their close proximity to Dib. "I don't know. Something. Something that doesn't involve almost dying."   
  
Dib smiled. "Since fourth grade, every game was a life and death battle. Because I was playing with you." His golden gaze was piercing, yet warm, no subtle hints of regret, but a hazy depth of memories. "It's always the same game, Zim. I'm just playing with someone else."   
  
"You're flirting with death Dib," Zim spat. "It was kill or be killed before. This is ringing Death's doorbell and jumping into the bushes!"   
  
"So the rules changed. The game's still the same."   
  
"This isn't a game, it's your life!" Zim could remember a time when the human had been the rational one, and it pained his heart. "Besides, that's not the real reason, Dib, and you know it."   
  
Dib's face cringed. "Don't you dare."   
  
"It's because of her, Dib!" Zim shouted, backing away as Dib sat up, his face grim and dark.   
  
"Shut up, Zim!"   
  
"You think just because she's gone, you have to bury yourself in liquor! Does it take the hurt away, Dib? You can forget, but does the hurt ever really go away?" Zim backed away, biting his tongue as Dib lunged forward. The human's eyes were filled with tears, his face scrunched in pain and anger.   
  
"Don't say another fucking word, Zim. You can't understand," he muttered through clenched teeth. "You've no right to judge me. You don't know anything about what I went through."   
  
Zim nodded, wishing he hadn't pressed the buttons he knew were marked "self-destruct," but also finding himself unable to continue. Being stubborn had always been a part of him. "Yeah. Sure. I'll just go back to my computer and e-mail Gir and forget you're even here. It's what you want the world to do, isn't it?"   
  
Dib let his fist fly directly at Zim's face. Zim dodged, raising his own arm to capture the one thrown at him. His other arm wrapped around Dib's waist and pulled him in until they stood chest to panting chest.   
  
"Don't think I'm too stupid to know what it did to you, Dib." Zim's anger cut like glass, wounding the invisible barrier between them. "I see it every day in your eyes."   
  
"Let me go!"   
  
Zim pulled him nearer, their eyes so close it was all the other could see. "I'm not here to baby-sit some whiney, depressed teenager. So grow up and move on." He let go, pushing Dib backwards till his knees encountered the rolling chair and the human fell into it.   
  
Zim waited for retaliation with his hands in fists at his sides.   
  
Dib sat in the chair, his shocked eyes fixed on the Irkin in disbelief. When it seemed neither was in the mood to continue, Zim let his hands relax and walked to his computer, finishing the letter he'd been working on. He could see Dib in the monitor's reflection, wiping the moisture from his face with his arms, his body shaking. The human got up from the chair and headed for the bathroom, locking the door behind him.   
  
Zim frowned. He walked over to the chair and pulled it back over to his desk, sitting down and clicking "send."   
  
**   
  
  
Maybe in the next chapter I'll answer questions instead of making up new ones. Maybe.... hehehe, big boned ^,~ Sorry but I think that one's pretty good. I'll just sit here and smirk while I write the next part...   
  
Also, somehow Karyx while beta-ing figured out the main plot to this story that has yet to be disclosed! Darn you people and your perseptivness! 


	5. Nye of the Storm

Happy Easter Everyone! And while you all dance like monkeys and eat your taquitos while watching your favorite show, remember that it's just a giant pimple and your greatest enemy has a robot of you in his closet. That is all.   
  
**   
  
"Get the fucking door already!" Nye shouted above the pounding music that was continually interrupted by the doorbell chiming and a few pounds at the door. The rooms were mad with energy and excitement. The proud chosen attendants of the Pi Alpha Phi party swiveled like snakes, offering their bodies to the lords of the frat house. No one even pretended to hear the set of bells ringing as Nye stomped over to the entryway. "Such a big fucking deal. I ain't your fucking butler, Max!"   
  
The said party-er raised his hand in the air, his middle finger raised as he ground into a petite blonde on the dance floor.   
  
"Fuck this." Nye unlocked the many locks and pulled the large white door open. "Yeah?"   
  
"Heya, Nye." Jax smiled, putting his hand out. The two exchanged a slap/punch handshake while Nye's exterior softened.   
  
"Great you guys could come." He moved aside, holding the door open while the others filed in. First Jax, looking some gothic cheerleader in his bright blue and gold crop top, then Dib in customary black, though all of it skin tight. Just as he began to shut the door, it was flung back into his face. "The fuck?!"   
  
The hand on the door was green, followed by a face that glared under untidy black hair as Zim walked into the frat house.   
  
/He really came,/ Nye thought with a smirk. "Why hello, Zim. So glad you could come." His voice dripped with acid-like sweetness, so far south from his normal speech and vocabulary usage.   
  
Zim narrowed his blue eyes in a scowl. "I only came because Dib insisted I come."   
  
"What, are you his momma now?" Nye laughed at himself, slamming the door shut and almost hitting Zim with it. "You make me funny. I like that. Why don't you follow me around for the night? I could use the laughs."   
  
The green skinned youth turned around, stalking off in the direction he'd seen Jax and Dib go. A hand on his shoulder stopped his pursuit.   
  
"Maybe you didn't understand me. I'll try to speak slower so you can catch it this time." Nye spun him around, knocking him into a wall. "I want you to follow me. You look like you've got a lot to say and I'm tired of listening to these fuckers."   
  
Zim pushed the older boy away. "I've got plenty to say to you."   
  
"Then say it." Nye looked around with discontent. "But not in here. Business such as ours is best served outside. I don't feel like having to shout over music or hear around it, for that matter." He directed the Irkin with his head. "This way."   
  
Zim looked back over his shoulder, trying to spy Dib in the crowd. He was nowhere to be seen. Resigned, and rather eager to speak his mind to the college junior, he quickly fell behind Nye as he guided him out the back door and onto the patio. Unlike the inside of the house, which was trashed and crowded, the outside was calm and clear, like the large pool that rippled with the vibrations of the music. Little floating swim gear bounced to the same re-mixed beat as the ravers.   
  
"So, should I start or let you pull that fucking stick out your ass so I can beat you with it?"   
  
Zim glared at Nye, wishing it had the same effect on this human as it did on others. Nye just smiled, looking cocky and smug.   
  
"Why don't I get the ball rolling." Nye paced around Zim, looking at and through him. "You're worried about Dib."   
  
Green fists clenched at Zim's side. "With a friend like you, who wouldn't be?"   
  
"And what's wrong with me?"   
  
"You're killing him."   
  
Nye put a surprised look on his face that screamed fake. "I am? How so?"   
  
"By convincing him that all this will make the hurting go away."   
  
"It's just a little fun."   
  
"Fun?" Zim grabbed the human's collar, yanking him close. "You think throwing his guts up, laying in bed with hangovers and being dragged home high are fun for him?"   
  
Nye pushed himself away, anger building up at Zim's presumptuousness. "Are you still upset about last night?"   
  
Zim grunted. It was as good a "yes" as any words could supply.   
  
"It was unfortunate, Zim, but those kind of things happen."   
  
"Not to smart people. Things like that happen when hurt people think the answers are at the bottom of the bottle."   
  
Nye's smugness answered Zim's question before he even asked it.   
  
"He never told you about what happened, did he?"   
  
Nye shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about. Probably isn't important to him. I think you're blowing things out of proportion."   
  
"His sister died last year."   
  
Nye's calm exterior cracked just a bit, a little human empathy peeking out.   
  
"His sister, Gaz, got into a bad crowd, picked the wrong kind of friends. She died of a drug overdose. Heroine." Zim ground his teeth together. "Dib and she were the only family they had, so when she died, he was alone. Needless to say, he didn't take it very well. He missed his own graduation because he was being hospitalized for alcohol poisoning."   
  
Nye's eyes glittered. "So you're trying to protect him from the same mistake his sister made?" He clapped his hands. "How very fucking noble of you."   
  
The Irkin growled. "Like a filthy human like you would understand nobility anyway!"   
  
Nye smiled, circling Zim again. "Perhaps nobility isn't the real objection here, Zim. I'm beginning to think that maybe you have your own alternative motives."   
  
"None as evil as yours."   
  
"No?" Nye walked up Zim's back with his fingertips. "Any motive that leads to self-gratification can be seen as evil in another's eyes. What I give Dib is at face value. You work in the shadows, don't you? I bet you have your own secrets. You've known Dib since fourth grade, is it? And even though you swear to hate each other, here you are, living together, going to a party together, you yelling at me about how to treat him properly." Nye smiled, getting right in Zim's face. "I think the real threat to Dib is you."   
  
"Bastard."   
  
"Emotional wounds hurt so much deeper than physical ones." Nye went through his back pants pocket and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it and pressing it to his lips. "I wonder what it'll do to Dib to know his greatest enemy's trying to get into his pants." The cigarette bounced up and down as he spoke. "That's definitely going to fuck something up." He blew smoke in the Irkin's face, watching him swat it away. "Too bad it's probably not going to be you."   
  
Zim's fist glanced his jaw. Nye stepped back, holding his cigarette far away from his body as Zim advanced and swung at him.   
  
"Guess I was right, eh?"   
  
"Wretched human! Why won't you just leave things alone?!" Zim shouted, kicking at Nye's feet and successfully landing the human on his back.   
  
Nye looked at his hand, his cigarette broken. "Well, ain't that a pity? Another broken fag." He turned his attention towards Zim, who stood over him, seething. "You know what, Zim? I think you need to cool off."   
Nye's feet connected with Zim, sending the Irkin backwards. As he twisted in the air, he noticed his startled reflection staring back at him. He'd never noticed they'd wandered towards the pool.   
  
There was a loud, sizzling splash.   
  
**   
  
  
Hehehe, evil. Thanks for making it readable Karyx! ~Niko 


	6. Ten Doors Down

I love angst. I love humor too. I also love the nice people who read and review.... I can't believe I just typed that. When I start unconsciously rhyming that's when I know it's time for bed. G'night all!  
  
**  
  
"I can't believe he came." Jax said, sitting down beside Dib at the kitchen counter turned bar.  
  
Dib poured himself a glass from an unfamiliar liquor bottle. "I can." He took a gulp of the bitter liquid. "He's impossible. I think he's just doing this to annoy me."  
  
Jax pulled a beer out of a cooler, snapping the top with his teeth. It was an interesting trick he'd learned and was sure it attracted many women. Dib had yet to hear of a girl who swooned over a man's ability to open a beer. "You both did an awful lot of not talking on the way here. Did the unhappy couple get into a fight?"  
  
Dib's golden eyes glared at him over the top of his red plastic cup. "Couple, no. Fight, yes."  
  
Jax swiveled on the barstool, looking out at the perspective women dancing in the living room. "It's really a shame." His eyes fell on a particular brunette in daisy dukes. "Why not join a frat? If the skool won't let you change rooms, just move out. Just look at the perks. Parties, babes, booze, and all the ass you can grab."  
  
Dib snorted, twisting around with a playful grin. "All the ass you can grab?"  
  
"Try it!"  
  
"No thanks, Ass Man. I'll leave the booty business to you."   
  
Jax rolled his eyes. "With an attitude like that, you'll never join Pi Alpha Phi."  
  
"Like they'd take me." Dib looked at the lifted eyebrows on Jax's face. "What are you hiding?"  
  
"Nothing. It's just that Nye belongs to Pi Alpha Phi and as his friends...."  
  
Dib looked around him, eyeing the spacious surroundings. "I seriously doubt that's all it takes."  
  
Jax nodded, gulping down his beer. "Well, there's always the pledging; Nye can't get us out of that. But, well...I've already been accepted for next term when they loose the seniors."  
  
Dib's eye bulged, glad he's already swallowed his latest mouthful. "You're in?"  
  
"Well, I still have to finish the pledge trial, but for the most part, yeah!"  
  
"That's so cool!" Dib gave Jax a high five, looking at his friend in a whole new light. "Jax Mayfield, Pi Alpha Phi, Ass Man extraordinaire. What are they asking you to do for the pledge trial?"  
  
Jax drank the last of his beer and squished it flat, grabbing for another one. "Nothing big. It's kind of a secret though."  
  
Dib nodded. "Sure. But hey, are the rumors true? I mean, I hear they're usually really dangerous."  
  
"Sometimes."  
  
"What about the story about that guy who they found hung from the flagpole?"  
  
Jax shrugged. "I don't think that was a trial. My guess is he didn't get accepted and did it to himself to get back at Pi Alpha Phi."  
  
"Suicide?"  
  
"It's a crazy world, Dib." Jax's eyes wandered over Dib's shoulder. "Speaking of crazy, what's going on out there?"  
  
Dib turned around, watching a crowd building up in the back yard. Some people were screaming. "A fight maybe?"  
  
Jax stood, pulling Dib up with him. "I don't think so. Come on, let's go check it out."  
  
Dib followed quickly, pushing people away as discreetly as possible to satisfy his curiosity.  
  
"Oh my god! What's happening to him! I think he's drowning!" a woman's voice shouted.  
  
Dib tried to look over shoulders, but it seemed that all the tall people had decided to stand in his way.  
  
Suddenly Jax was pulling him forward, making a lot of people angry as he shoved them to the front.  
  
"Jeez, Jax, what's your problem! You're gonna get us kicked out!"  
  
"It's Zim!"  
  
Dib took a moment to register that, then broke away from Jax, going into a full run and bursting out the other side, nearly diving into the pool as he skidded to a stop. The green body thrashed as bubbles and smoke lifted off the water.   
  
"Don't move!" Nye shouted, pulling Dib away from the water. "Something's wrong with the water. I think it's acid."  
  
"Nothing's wrong with the water!" Dib smacked his hand away, stepping quickly to the edge of the pool and diving in as people screamed and grabbed for him.  
  
The water was cold. Dib opened his eyes, the sting of too much chlorine attacking them. The thrashing green body was easy to spot. His heart raced, as his feet kicked, never fast enough with his clothing weighing him down. His arms quickly enclosed around the red-hot form, pulling it to him as he kicked his way to the surface. Hundreds of arms were waiting, wriggling in the reflection of the water above them. Dib broke the surface, gasping for air, reaching out for a helping hand to pull him to the poolside. First one hand, then another, then the combined heave as he was dragged over and out of the cold water, the alien in his grasp.  
  
They took Zim from him and laid him on his back, as a towel was placed over Dib's shoulders. The crowd was scared silent.  
  
"What the fuck was that?!" Nye shouted, looking from the pool to Zim and back.  
  
Dib shuddered, crawling to Zim's side as Jax checked him for a pulse. Dib wondered where one would find an alien pulse to begin with.  
  
"He's not breathing," Jax announced, looking at Dib with fretful blue eyes.  
  
Something in Dib was suddenly being strangled, trying to claw free from an invisible culprit. Dib groaned; his eyes watering as he knelt beside Zim, the once smooth green flesh completely boiled and burned. "Zim? Oh God..." he grabbed at the cloth of his shirt, pulling frantically as tears began to fall. "Fuck! Get these off him! Get these off him!"  
  
The dancers and ravers stood still, watching as if at a theater, viewing the final act.  
  
"Fuck! Help me! Get these off him!"  
  
Jax took a knife from his pocket and cut the wet shirt from neckline to hem as Dib ripped the parts away and began with the pants.  
  
"What's wrong with him, Dib?" Jax asked, watching Dib cover the prone figure in a towel.  
  
"Skin condition," Dib muttered through tears. "Allergic to water."  
  
Jax felt his breath hitch in his chest. He turned his head to the crowd, glaring at the stupid onlookers. "Don't just stand there! Call an ambulance!"  
  
"No!"  
  
Jax looked back at Dib, the frantic speaker. His bottom lip was quivering, though he was trying to smile. "He'll be okay. We just need to get him to the dorm."  
  
"Dib he's not breathing!"  
  
"HE'LL BE OKAY!" Dib's eyes pleaded with him as his voice became a whisper. "Please, Jax...they'll kill him. Just help me get him home. Please. Please, for me."  
  
Jax bit his lip but quickly complied, wrapping his arms around Zim and lifting him off the concrete poolside patio. The crowd parted like the Red Sea for the two, as they moved past. The tension didn't break until the front door slammed shut.  
  
**  
  
"FUCK!"  
  
Dib punched the wall, his eyes red and face irritated from the tears that continually flowed.  
  
Jax left Zim's side, the bed squeaking as his weight departed from it. His arms wrapped around his screaming friend from the back, spooning against him as Dib continued to punch the wall. The wall was splattered in blood.  
  
"Stop it, Dib. Stop it!"  
  
Dib screeched in inhuman words, pounding and tearing at the innocent wall. "I can't stop it! I can't do anything! I can't do anything to help him!"  
  
Jax held him tighter, feeling the vibrations of every impact with the wall and wincing. "Dib, please. It's not the wall's fault. Stop hitting it."  
  
"It's my fault!" Dib punched it again, cracking through to the drywall with a snap. "I'm the reason he came to that stupid party in the first place! None of this would have happened if I had just stayed home!"  
  
"Dib, stop it!"  
  
"He's gonna die!" Dib's fists fell to his sides, his legs slowly giving out. Jax lowered them both the ground, kneeling on the hard wood and pulling Dib to him, feeling the shuddering sobs that trembled through his small body. "He's gonna die, Jax. He's gonna die! FUCK!"  
  
"He's not going to die!" Jax nestled his head against Dib's, feeling his heartbeat under his hands. "No one's going to die. Everything's going to be okay. He's breathing again, isn't he?"  
  
"He's not screaming, Jax. He stopped screaming. That means he's going to die!"  
  
"What do you mean, Dib?"  
  
Dib let his head fall to his chest, hiccups and the strange, yet familiar, internal strangling feeling overpowering him. "They all screamed, Jax. My sister and my mother. My mother died in a car wreck. I was in the car too." He took a gasping breath, shaking his head to rid his eyes of the remembered visions. "When the other car came she screamed, screamed so loud I didn't even hear the car hit. We rolled and rolled till she was hanging above me. I looked up when I realized she wasn't screaming anymore. She was dead, starring at me, her blood dripping on me."  
  
"Oh my god, Dib..."  
  
"When I saw Gaz in the hospital, she was screaming. I only saw her as they pushed her past on the stretcher. She looked at me...she had mom's eyes...and it was like she didn't even know who I was anymore. She was screaming about the spiders, that they were eating her legs. They were trying to make her stop, they told her to stop yelling, that there weren't any spiders. They forgot what happens when you don't scream. DEAD PEOPLE DON'T SCREAM!"  
  
Jax hid his head in Dib's shoulders, burying his eyes, washing the already wet shirt in tears. /Oh god, Dib...please stop...please don't say anything anymore. Just go to sleep./  
  
Dib pushed away from Jax with enough strength to land him flat on his back, walking over to his roommate's bed like the shadow of Death. "I won't let you die, Zim. If you die there won't be anyone left! I won't let you die!" He raised his fist and pummeled it into the boiled flesh. "Wake up, Zim! Say something! Yell at me! Tell me how stupid and blind I am! Tell me how much you hate me! Insult me! Hit me! ZIM! FUCK YOU, ZIM! SAY SOMETHING! ZIM!"   
  
"DIB, STOP IT!" Jax's arms quickly wrapped around the frantic body again, holding on for dear life as Dib struggled and fought against the restraint.  
  
"ZIM! Who's gonna put me back together when I do something stupid now!? You can't die, Zim! Who's gonna put me back together?! ZIM!"  
  
Jax whispered soft, pleading words, begging his friend to stop, as he wrestled him away from the bed to the other side of the room where his own bed lay.  
  
"I need you, Zim! Don't leave me! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"  
  
Ten doors down the hall slept Jon Larkson, completely unaware of the chaos.   
  
**  
  
Seriously though, how do you end a chapter like that? Thanks for beta-ing Karyx! 


	7. Glitches That Arn't

This is the longest time between updates I've ever had! Anyway, thank Karyx for helping make this work.  
  
Anyway, bon apetite!  
**  
  
Waking up naked is one thing. Waking up naked and in a considerable amount of pain is another. Waking up naked, in a considerable amount of pain, and with one too many arms accounted for on your body is something else entirely.  
  
Zim could feel the sunlight on his face pouring in from the window on the opposite end of the room, the booby-trapped rays kissing his sensitive flesh like daggers. It was definitely morning, if not already noon. Blankets clung to his body, every fiber in the cloth poking at him; the strands of hair from his wig stabbing at his head while the soft hand against his chest sent white fire through his veins. Unconsciousness had so much more to offer than the waking nightmare he'd not yet opened his eyes too. He couldn't remember if he'd opened his eyes underwater, nor was he about to find out while the cursed sun rained upon him. The water. Had he had the will to move his arm in light of probable discomfort, he'd have punched something; not that punching something would be anything less than painful, as well. Why, of all planets, did he land on one with such horrible natural phenomenon? No wonder he hated the species as well. The damned things were 98% of the liquid themselves. And judging by how much he hated one in particular, he could guess Nye was at least 99.9%.  
  
Nye. If Zim hadn't already have been burning, he'd have been red with rage. He'd given the human too much information; too little credit, as far as brains went. A mistake he would readily rectify. It was about time he made a temporary lab on the campus, anyway. Tearing the wretched human limb from limb and feeding him to a new batch of laser weasels would be a wonderful starting project. Not to mention the advantages of a nearby paste bathing facility.   
  
Zim smiled despite the pain, a light chuckle lifting his spirits.  
  
"Zim?"  
  
Now there was a voice that was hard to forget. The Irkin's brows creased. "Jax..."  
  
"Oh my god you're awake!" The sound of nearing footsteps padded across the floor. At least that narrowed the field down as to whose hand rested against Zim's chest. "How do you feel?"  
  
/Like shit; like I've been attacked by the Blorch; like I've been thrown in a pool by your friend. Oh wait, I was./ Zim groaned, every muscle in his jaw not wanting to be moved. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I helped Dib get you home." The voice was very close, close enough that Zim was sure he could reach over and hit him. "I'm glad you're awake. I don't think I'm as good with Dib as you are."  
  
Now there was an interesting thought. Zim turned his head, regretting it with every minute movement, and opened his eyes. The sunlight attacked as predicted. Zim squinted and cursed, but remained determined to see. As it was, all he could see was black. It was as though he was blind. But as morning fogginess drifted from his eyes, the blackness materialized into strands, a black head of hair resting on the mattress with an awkwardly positioned body resting in the chair. He hadn't even bothered to take his glasses off.  
  
"You should have seen him last night," Jax continued, following Zim's gaze. "I've seen him drunk, I've seen him angry, and I've seen him depressed. I've never seen like that before. It's probably best you didn't see him."  
  
"Can't be worse than when he was high."  
  
"I'm really sorry about that." The bed shook slightly as Jax's hand rested on the headboard. "Had I known...well I'd just rather it had never happened."  
  
"That makes two of us." Zim looked up, forgetting pain for a moment. "He trusts you."  
  
"And you don't. Not that I've given you any reason to," Jax admitted. "It's okay though. Sometimes I feel the same way about you. But I guess anyone who Dib'd go crazy over is worth a little more consideration."  
  
"Perhaps."   
  
Zim watched Jax as he stepped away from the bed and back towards the door.  
  
"Well, staying up all night looking after the two of you's got me pretty hungry. I'll pick you and Dib up something, while I'm downstairs and bring it up. What'll you have?"  
  
"Something that doesn't require large amounts to chewing."  
  
"Coffee it is." Jax smiled as he opened and closed the door behind him silently, remembering the still sleeping brunet lying in the chair in a most uncomfortable fashion.  
  
Zim wondered absently why Dib hadn't just slept in his own bed, which was still made from the night before. Not that he minded his vigilance. In fact, he was quite encouraged by it.   
  
The hand on his chest didn't hurt so much as before. His muscles slowly stretched and worked out what the tense underwater excursion had burned into his body. Not to mention that Irkin's were very fast healers. Zim lifted his own hand, wanting to lay it over Dib's. Too bad that particular muscle was still tender.  
  
"Ahie!"  
  
Zim bit his lip, curling his arm back down onto the bed softly. The soft hairs at his side shifted as the pale head stirred in sleep. Zim held his breath, but Dib's golden eyes fluttered open, drawn from slumber by the sudden shriek. He seemed disoriented, his eyes shifting uncomfortably as he sat up, drawing his comforting hand away and rubbing his gritty eyes under the crooked glasses. One second of memories was all it took for the startled and frightened look to return to the pale features and his eyes to rest upon flaccid green.  
  
"Zim?!"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
Dib's eyes seemed to glimmer behind the sun's reflection in his glasses. "You're so stupid," he muttered, a relieved smile playing at his lips.  
  
"I know. I should have pushed him in first."  
  
The human's hand crept over the sheets, resting on the healing arm. "I'd say better luck next time, but if there is a next time, I'm gonna make sure I kill you before the water does."  
  
Zim scoffed. "You're gonna have to fight Nye for the privilege."  
  
"It's not like he knew what would happen, Zim."  
  
/No. He didn't. But he knows enough to hurt both of us now./ Zim watched Dib's hand on his arm, the beautiful, hazy contrast of green and soft pink. "Can you take my contacts out? They're only making the sunlight worse."   
  
Dib nodded, carefully pulling the white lenses off, revealing the ruby, pupiless depths underneath. "Wig too?"  
  
Zim deafly nodded, lifting his head to aid its happy removal.   
  
There was an odd silence, one in which neither spoke, but both sought for words.  
  
"This...um, this is the first time you've let me see you without your disguise in years." Dib spoke in a hushed tone.  
  
Zim tried to remember a time before, when he had taken off the accustomed gear in the other's presence. With the unpredictable comings and goings, it seemed a rare occurrence indeed that the contacts and wig were discarded.  
  
"Do I scare you?"  
  
Dib shook his head. "I've never been afraid of you."  
  
"Good." There was a finalizing sound to it that Zim hadn't wished to put in context and cursed old habits for doing so.  
  
The door resounded with a solid knock.   
  
"It's probably Jax. He left to get us food," Zim explained.  
  
Dib looked at the blue eyes that stared at him from the table top. "Put it all back on?"  
  
"No." Zim's disgust at the idea was evident. His eyes felt gritty as it was and his head itched terribly, almost worse than the burns. "Hide me under the blankets and send him away when he's left the food."  
  
Dib nodded, keeping in his seat and instead raising his voice. "Come on in!"  
  
Painful blankets fell over Zim's head smoothly, like a mortician's, covering a cadaver.   
  
Dib looked up from the white covers to gaze at the opening door, the tray of food in the hands, and the blond hair that passed through and closed the door behind him.  
  
"Nye? Oh, hi."  
  
Nye smiled, crossing to the bedside table and laying the tray of food on it. "I met Jax downstairs and thought I'd relieve him of his duty. I wanted to come up and apologize anyway. Is he still awake?"  
  
Dib hesitated only a second. "Huh? Oh, no. No. He fell asleep again. He's asleep."  
  
"Pity." He leaned against the table, his eyes looking around the ceiling. "I guess it's for the best. It really is better I tell you in private."  
  
Curious, Dib leaned forward in his chair. "Tell me what?"  
  
/Oh Irk...no.../ Zim's hands clutched the sheets in tight fists under the heavy blanket.  
  
Nye's eyes sparkled with gossip. "Dib...have you noticed anything...strange about Zim?"  
  
"The question should be, have I noticed anything normal about him."  
  
Dib's attempt of humor did little to impress the college junior. "I mean, skool-wise."  
  
"Skool?" Dib worried his bottom lip. "No."  
  
"That's funny. You see, Jax told me you once tried to get moved out of here, but the skool denied Zim's residence and you got stuck here."  
  
Dib nodded. "Yeah. Computer glitch. I don't mind so much really, though."  
  
Nye stepped away from the bedside table, waltzing behind Dib's chair and putting both hands on his friend's shoulders. "There seem to be a lot of computer glitches around here. Especially when it concerns Zim. You see, I thought I'd be nice and do a favor for Zim, seeing as I'm kinda the reason he got hurt. So I went to the administrations office to inquire about Zim's schedule, so I could pick up assignments and what not. And guess what they told me?"  
  
Dib hadn't the slightest clue. Luckily, it had been a rhetorical question.  
  
"They told me they didn't have any records on him," Nye explained. "Don't you think that's odd?"  
  
"Well, second semester only started two weeks ago," Dib pointed out. "Maybe they just don't have him loaded into the computer."  
  
"I thought so too." Nye bent down, his head bobbing beside Dib's ear. "But then they searched the entire skool's records for any sign of Zim. All the found was a copy of his application with a rejection stamp on it." His smile was hidden out of view. "Zim isn't enrolled at UNS, Dib. He never was."   
  
  
**  
  
Hehehe, how many saw that comming? 


	8. The Truth to Lies

Short chapter. I'd put seven and eight together if I weren't so scared of making Dib seem rather emotional. In it's revised form, I'd say I took care of most of that though. It's just too much work though! Lazy Niko shall leave it as it is. Thank you Karyx for the help! Oh, how many people hate Nye now? Hehehe...  
  
  
  
***  
  
Nye's bright blue eyes seemed brighter somehow as he straightened up, his hands patting Dib's shoulders in comfort as a snicker formed in his throat, coming out as a cough.  
  
"Maybe I shouldn't have said anything," Nye admitted, crossing to the table and grabbing an apple from the tray. "Then again, I'm sure he was going to tell you sooner or later. He is your roommate after all." As he bit into the apple, his eyes fell to the black sports watch on his wrist. "Fuck. I've gotta be at work in an hour."  
  
Dib nodded absently, his voice calm and cold. "Yeah. You should go."  
  
Keeping his smile in check and the apple in hand, Nye ambled to the door of the too small room. "You're welcome for the food. If you need anything, I'll be at the Jezebel." He gave a small wave, the smile finally playing fully on his face. "Hope you feel better soon, Zim."  
  
The door shut with a resounding thud that permeated the silence. It was a sign that the coast was clear, but Zim knew better, remaining under the protective blankets. He didn't even want to imagine Dib's face. He did want to imagine Nye's as his arms were ripped from his body by tortoises. However, the sinking feeling in his gut kept nothing but dread in his system.  
  
"Zim?"  
  
The voice was too unruffled; too composed. Zim prayed Dib had suddenly gone deaf and had not heard a word the bastard had said. Prayer in hindsight was futile at best.  
  
"I'm sorry, Dib."   
  
"Why are you here?"  
  
Why. You can ask why about anything. You can ask why the sky is blue, why humans and Irkin's both breathe air, why butterflies fly and lightening bugs light. Why is always the easy part. It's the answers that take time.  
  
With his small remnants of strength, Zim's arms pulled the blankets from his face. His eyes burned, not with tears but with what he knew was evident in them. Some emotions just transcended species.  
  
The blankets fell to rest on his green chest, his dark crimson eyes deep with wanting.  
  
"Oh, my god..."  
  
Zim wanted to reach out and hold him; to comfort and explain to him. His arms rested weakly at his side, too tired to do even that.  
  
"You've...been stalking me?" Dib's face contorted with disgust, his body going rigid in his seat.  
  
"It's not like that!"  
  
"I hate you."  
  
Zim recoiled, determination taking over from sadness. "Dib, please..."  
  
"Why, Zim? Why me?" The human glared with enough fire in his eyes to chase the confusion away, his fingers clawing at the wood of his chair.  
  
"I've asked myself that for years, and I still don't have a good answer."  
  
"Bull shit!" The anger that had been so well hidden under the cool exterior broke through. "You've followed me to college, moved in with me and are taking over my life! You don't do that and not know why!"  
  
"Because I love you!"  
  
Whatever retort had formed on the human's lips fell to oblivion, cascading down into an abyss accompanied by everything that was and had been.  
  
"I love you, Dib. I've loved you for years." Zim's face broke into a sad smile. He'd pictured this moment since ninth grade, confessing his feelings for the worthy human. He'd pictured a night under the stars, just the two of them in the midst of twilight, with only Orion to watch as he'd softly kiss Dib's cheek and spill forth the emotions that rang so clear and true through his being. Not once had he envisioned lying on a bed, too weak to bat an eye, with Dib glaring with a stuffed animal's blank and terrified statement as the sun baked him to a crispier crisp. Why did dreams have to be more beautiful than reality? "I tried not to. I tried to hate you, kill you, rid myself of your light in my darkness. But Tallest save me, I couldn't. And after Gaz died... Damnit, Dib, you were an absolute idiot! Right up there with the rest of your pitiful species! You were going to destroy yourself. And I couldn't let that happen. I care for you too much."  
  
"I hate you."  
  
"I know you think you do." Zim winced, his sad smile remaining. "I knew what you thought when I decided to do this, Dib. I didn't come here to seduce you or take advantage of you. Irk knows I've had plenty of chances. I came because I wanted to make sure you would be alright. I wanted that crazy kid I first met, who used to chase me around and call me an alien." He watched Dib stand, his movements oddly stiff, like every joint was rusted. Miserably, Zim continued, wondering if he'd ever have another chance. "This morning I woke up alive, Dib. The only reason I'm not dead, or better off dead on a dissection table, is because of you. Somewhere, I know you care for me. If only in the slightest."  
  
"I hate you."  
  
"I still love you."  
  
Dib was gone without hesitation, grabbing his shoes and leaving with them in his hands, still dressed in the tattered remnants of the night before. Zim lay alone in the too small room, watching the door for someone to bring Dib home.   
  
***  
  
Poooooooor Zim. I know how he feels ::hangs head and walks off stage:: I am the queen of unrequited love. 


	9. Over A Drink

A breif piriod of calm. Don't kill me. I'll update soon.  
  
**  
  
The Jezebel resounded with the dead echo of laughter. Weeknights, especially midweek, were slow; missing the vibrant lust of the evening the weekend seemed to fill. The stoners filled the corners as usual, while dancers perused the shallow crowd for a one-night stand. The magic of the atmosphere was gone like the breath of the deceased, leaving only jaded youth to wander the scene for escape under the fake twinkle of neon lights.  
  
Jax sipped his beer like a soda from its can, tipping his head back to guzzle down the liquid fire that filled his body with ease. There had been one too many nights of worry in such short time, his head reeling with too much and not enough.  
  
"So, he said he loves you?" he asked, recapping just a tad as Dib broke from his spiel to drink from his glass.  
  
Dib nodded, his eyes resting firmly on the bar's counter. "Yeah. Like it was the most obvious and casual thing he'd ever said to me. I love you. Just like that."  
  
Jax bit his bottom lip. "You're gonna hate me for this, Dib. But I've got to admit, that's pretty romantic." He could tell by the sudden glare he was indeed right about that. "What? Look at it this way, Dib: he followed you all the way from...wherever the hell you're from, and has been looking after you all this time like some guardian angel! I wish someone cared about me that much."  
  
"It's not romantic. It's stalking."  
  
"Tomato, Tomahto."  
  
Dib let his fingers dab in the condensation on his glass, "You don't understand."  
  
"You're right, I don't." Jax sighed. "I'd understand if you weren't gay how this might be upsetting but—"  
  
"What makes you think I'm gay?"  
  
Jax rolled his eyes towards Dib in an exaggerated gesture, his head following through and nailing him with a correct-me-if-I'm-wrong-but-I-don't-think-so stare. Dib's cheeks turned a shade rosier, and Jax was sure it wasn't the alcohol.  
  
The trouble teen looked away, back to his drink with a grimace. "Anyway, it's not about being gay or straight. It's...Zim."  
  
"I still don't get it."  
  
Jax watched as Dib's eyes darted from drunk to dancer to drunk, surveying the area. When it seemed safe, Dib nodded for him to move in closer, his voice decreasing to a whisper.  
  
"If I tell you something, you have to promise not to tell anyone."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"I'm serious!" Jax could feel the intensity of his words in the golden eyes. "This isn't just some juicy secret, Jax. This is life and death. Understand?"  
  
Jax held up three fingers. "Boy Scout Honor."  
  
Dib's voice fell lower, drawing Jax closer and closer until their noses were practically touching.  
  
"Zim's an alien."  
  
"What?" Jax pulled back, his eyes wide with shock. "Really? He doesn't look Mexican."  
  
"Not that kind of alien!" Dib spoke clearly through clenched teeth. "I mean an honest to god, trying to take over the entire world, extra terrestrial being. As in from space."  
  
"Wow... That makes that whole green skin thing makes more sense."  
  
"You don't think I'm crazy?"  
  
"Not any more than the time you made me follow you out to video tape Mr. Conrad." Jax waved his arms in the air to accentuate his memories. "I told you he wasn't a Yeti." He smiled, but the humor seemed as dead as the Jezebel. "So...it's a species thing then?"  
  
"Kinda. Part of it," Dib admitted. "I mean if you're a guy, and you like guy's you're gay; if you like girls you're straight. But nowhere did anyone mention aliens. Because it's a different species is it considered bestiality?"  
  
"You know you were thinking about it."  
  
"Bestiality?"  
  
"No. Sex with Zim!"  
  
"No!" Dib shouted in defense.  
  
Jax sat back in his stool; arms crossed victoriously. "You are now."  
  
Dib's rosy cheeks darkened again as Jax laughed at him with a crooked grin. "Some friend you are."  
  
"I know. I'm horrible. But I'm right aren't I?" Jax raised an eyebrow. "You like him, don't you?"  
  
Dib sat in silence, drinking his hard liquor as the last refrain played. "I don't know."  
  
"Pretend he's a regular human being for a second, and tell me what you think."  
  
"I think the same." Dib groaned, his hands pushing through his inky black hair. "I don't hate him, Jax. I haven't really hated him in years. Ever since..."  
  
The train of thought seem to trail off, leaving Jax at the edge of his seat. "Ever since? Ever since what? When?"  
  
Dib's face cracked into a smile, his eyes glazing over with happier visions. "Zim has this little robot. It's completely insane. It runs around in this little green dog suit with a visible zipper."  
  
"Gir?"  
  
Dib turned shocked eyes in his direction. "You know Gir?"  
  
Jax nodded. "I went to a club last summer and met him. He hooked me up with some really fine chicks."  
  
"I don't doubt it." Dib shook his head, returning to his previous speech. "Anyway, back in elementary skool and into sixth grade, me and Zim would try to kill each other. He would try to destroy the world and I would try to stop him, our main objective to get the other one out of the way permanently. One day I crossed the line, I guess, because I came home with a black and eye and a bloody nose. I'd just shoved some toilet paper in to stop the bleeding when Gir came over. He didn't have a note from his master, a bomb or any other object of mass destruction. He just came in and watched my TV."  
  
"And you don't hate Zim because of that?"  
  
"I'm getting to that." Dib took a deep breath. "You see, after a while we got to talking. Gir would pretty much answer anything I asked him. That's how I found out about Zim being banished to the Earth, rejected from his planet and left to die. He'd just been told that day. Then he kissed my cheek and said Zim was sorry for hurting me. Coming from a robot with the innocence and intelligence of a kindergartner, it's hard not to believe it. I felt bad for Zim, genuinely sad that the person who'd been trying to kill me for three years was banished and the earth had nothing more to fear. I guess I realized I couldn't really hate him if I could empathize with him. And from that day on me and Zim have been...friends. I think I even started to like him before Nye told me what he had done." Dib gave a startled laugh, his eyes growing heavier. "I'm sorry. I know. I'm boring."  
  
"Not boring, just a rambler." Jax stretched out his arms over his head. "I still say it's romantic, Dib. He really cares for you. If you can look past the whole shock value, I think you'd realize it too."  
  
Dib nodded absently, his head bobbing in time with his fluttered eyes. He swayed on the barstool.  
  
"Hey, are you feeling okay?"  
  
"I feel fine... I'm just so tired all of a sudden..." Dib suddenly pitched off the stool, falling to the ground and landing hard on his back.  
  
Jax jumped to his side, lifting his head up and shaking him slightly. "Dib? You okay, man? Little too much to drink?"  
  
Dib's eyes swam into the back of his head. "I think...someone..." The sparkling lights overhead dazzled him, fading in and out over Jax's worried face. "...put something in my drink..."  
  
The colors faded to a swirl of black.   
  
**  
  
I know something you don't know! :P 


	10. Knocks at the Door

What astute little readers you all are! I'm not going to tell you if you're right though. I'm just going to make you mad by skipping ahead to the next day! Mwahaha! Why? Because I'm evil. And I like angst. But mostly because I'm evil. Thank you Karyx for the help!  
  
**  
  
It was nearly dawn. The purple haze of the sky was pressed back by the spreading warmth of pinks and golds across the horizon, peaking through the upstairs window of Zim's acquired dorm room. With the first band of yellow to stream across his bed rested form, his insides twisted into tight little knots of worry. There hadn't been a knock at the door all night. Dib hadn't come home. It was perhaps a worse feeling than hearing the sharp pangs on the wooden entrance. At least then he knew Dib was all right, even if it also meant he needed some help. The bed on the other side of the too little room was empty, still made from two nights prior.  
  
/Dib… what have you gotten yourself into this time../ Zim wiped at his sweaty brow. He'd slept completely covered in blankets, not wanting to put his disguise back on but weary of someone bringing his friend home and seeing him in his true form. His skin had healed up quickly, the burned pieces falling off like the dead skin it was, leaving new and brighter greens to cover his form. He'd needed to shed anyway, though he could think of four thousand more pleasant ways to go about it. Just as he could think of a million more pleasant ways for the pervious night to have gone.  
  
/I didn't mean to scare you, Dib. If it weren't for the wretched worm pig baby things could have been avoided. I'm sure of it./   
  
Bird songs floated in through the closed glass window, one song joined together by multitudes in a sinful melody that sang of what the world should have been; a celebration of life.  
  
The phone rang.  
  
Zim sat up and grabbed for his disguise, putting it on in record time as he vaulted for the door,  
  
The phone rang.   
  
Zim swung the door wide, expecting the zealous Jax to smile with Dib in tow. Only empty hallways of the early morning greeted him with the dim lighting.  
  
The phone rang.  
  
With his hand on the doorknob he realized what the sound was. He'd been so anxious he'd forgotten what a knock sounded like. Had Dib been there, he's have surly insulted his intelligence. Zim frowned. He would have enjoyed finding a rebuttal. Closing the vile door he headed back to his bed, absently picking up the phone as he sat on the warm matrices.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Zim?"  
  
With eyes so big even the contacts could not completely cover the ruby orbs, Zim held the receiver with both hands, "Jax? Where's Dib? What have you and your stinking moose beast friend done to him now?"  
  
"Zim… I…eh.. yu.."  
  
Zim's impatience with the human was already starting the brew. "Try opening your mouth wider and moving your tongue around. It helps to form words!"  
  
The other end of the line went silent. Almost silent. In the background furious sounds of sirens screamed. Something was wrong.  
  
"Where are you? What's' going on?" Zim barked, one hand fidgeting with the phone cord absently.  
  
"It's Dib…"  
  
"Explain yourself quickly, earth monkey, before I track you down and gut you of your inferior human organs to amuse myself." His voice wavered despite the grotesque threat. The sirens in the background grew louder.  
  
"I can't, Zim. I'm sorry. You need to get out of there. Please."  
  
"What for? What are you hiding? Tell me!"  
  
"When they search his room they're gonna find you. They'll know you aren't supposed to be there, Zim, and they'll think it was you. You have to get out of there."  
  
Zim pressed the phone harder against his skull, trying to hear what was behind Jax's voice, among the squealing sirens. "Tell me what happened! Where's Dib? What happened to Dib?"  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
The phone went dead. Zim listened to the incessant tone, listening to it drown out the birds' songs and the screaming in his head. The received smashed into the rest of the phone with a crack, the speaking part breaking off and jumping across the floor.  
  
"Damnit!" The Irkin stood, marching over to the closet and dressing quickly, his black pants zipped and but unbuttoned and red t-shirt hanging backwards from his shoulders. His shoes were slipped on without socks as he bounced to the computer, deleting every file on it with a singe command and shutting it off. Leaving without a trace was going to be difficult but not impossible.   
  
/Where's Dib. What's happened? What couldn't Jax tell me? Where was he calling from? Why were there sirens in the background? Why did it all have to happen last night?/ Zim's mind raced as his body moved, making his bed, moving all his clothes into Dib's half of the closet, making the room into a single living quarter as it should have been. /Fuck, Nye. This is all his fault. I will kill him. He will feel the wrath of my fist and the sirens will be too late to help him!/  
  
The sirens echoed, not from memory but from outside.  
  
Zim stopped, looking towards the empty window. He could hear them, imagining the lights spinning around with their red and blue hues with doughnut gutted men in uniform steered around the campus. Wherever they were headed, it was close. Zim didn't want to be around when they came.   
  
"Fuck.."  
  
His things rearranged and his self disguised and ready, he opened the door. Part of him regretted ever stepping a foot in it uninvited. The part that already missed the late night watching the moonlight play over Dib's pale features looked back over his shoulder as the door closed on the too little room he would probably never see again.  
  
The hall was dim, the night-lights still on as the sun stretched over the tops of buildings. His footsteps went unheard as he walked down them, pressing for the elevator.  
  
/Dib.. please be okay. I'm coming to find you. Please be alright./  
  
The elevator door pulled open. Zim walked forward only to almost bump into the blue collar of a uniform. He jumped back, startled. The Police officers didn't seemed to even notice him. They walked past, allowing Zim to rush into the elevator behind them, out of sight and hopefully out of mind.  
  
"So they think it was another fraternity trial?"  
  
"That's what it looks like. Poor kid. Hung like that for everyone to see."  
  
Zim's mind raced, his mouth going wide with words unspoken.  
  
The two cops continued to walk away, "Membrane. Huh. Wonder if he's related to Professor Membrane."  
  
The twin doors of the elevator closed before Zim had a chance to run out, threatening for information. His fingers pushed at the buttons frantically, trying to make the elevator stop, the doors to open. He needed to know what they knew. He needed to know what had happened. The elevator gave a sharp lurch as it began its descent, all the buttons and numbers forgotten.  
  
Zim's legs seemed to become jelly, slipping out from under him till he oozed down the walls of the elevator, sitting heavily on the ground as the dorm floors passed with annoying little beeps and dings.  
  
"Dib… oh my Tallest, no." tears pooled, his bottom lip almost bleeding as he bit into it, trying not to cry out. Trying being the operative word.  
  
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIB!"  
  
**  
  
Maybe I'll write a nice little peice of fluff after I'm done with this fic.......what? I can be sappy!..... 


	11. To Hang an Angel

I've desided to quit being "evil" as you all have so graciously put it (or, eh, agreed with) and put out the next chpater. All your questions are about to be stepped around and the answers will all be misleading! Have fun! Thanks Karyx for all your help! Now go gloat about how you know everything they don't ^,~  
**  
  
In the middle of a forgotten scene in the pantomime of the Jezebel, Jax knelt beside his friend, shaking Dib's shoulders hard, trying to get the golden eyes to open.  
  
"Come on, Dib. Wake up. Wake up for me."  
  
"Bring him in back."  
  
Jax looked up, catching Nye leaning over the bar with a serious gleam in his mischievous eyes. "What the fuck are you waiting for?"  
  
Nothing. Jax wrapped his arms around his unconscious friend and walked around to the employee entrance Nye helped open it for them, careful not to ram Dib's head or legs into the frame or counter. Nye shut the door behind them quickly with a cautious glance around.  
  
"I don't understand what happened," Jax stated, finding all the tables covered in glasses and liquor and deciding to lay Dib on the floor once again. "I was sitting right there. How could someone have put something in his drink without either of us seeing it?"  
  
"Are you as gullible as he is?" The employee entrance locked with a slight click as Nye turned the chrome dial and began untying his apron. "You'd think anyone who got alcohol from a drug dealer would be just a little wary."  
  
"Fuck! What did you give him?"  
  
"Just a light sedative, so we can get him in the jeep. I suggest you get his clothes off now, 'cause there's not much room in the jeep to do it." Nye hung his apron from the hanger beside the door and grabbed for his jacket, slipping his arms through the sleeves that hung a tad too low and needed to be pushed up to his wrists. On the right sleeve was a patch with the Greek letters pi, alpha, and phi stitched across it.  
  
Jax looked from Nye to Dib, his gut twisting uncomfortably as his throat constricted. "The trial's tonight? Does it have to be Dib?"  
  
"You know the rules. You wanna show your devotion to Pi Alpha Phi, you gotta betray friendship. And Dib's perfect. We've already gotten Zim out of the way." Nye knelt down beside him, heaving Dib's torso off the ground and wrenching his tight T-shirt up over his head. "It's tonight or never."  
  
Jax's fingers began to untie the shoe laces on the sleeping teen's feet. "We? You almost killed Zim. If that's what you call getting someone out of the way, what's going to happen to Dib?"  
  
"You even think of chickening out now and you'll be taking his place." Nye's acid stare penetrated him, showing proof of his threat with every syllable.  
  
Jax took off the shoes as Nye's impatience drove the older student to simply cut the skintight leather pants from Dib's body. A thin trickle of blood flowed from his hip to his ankle on both legs. With shirt, pants, and boxers in hand, Nye stood, pocketing his knife. "Get him in the jeep. I need to hide these until we can burn them."  
  
Hesitantly, Jax wrapped his arms around Dib, heading out the back door to the club. The neon lights were a distant memory in the dimly lit back parking lot of potholes and shadows. Nye's forest green Jeep was parked close to the door, the top canopy pulled off in light of the warm weather. It was non-discript, the same as any number of Jeeps parked in the darkness, except for the crimson dice hanging from the rearview mirror. Seven dots faced him as he opened the door and pushed the front seat up, making room to reach behind and deposit Dib in the empty back on the cigarette burnt seat. Whether a play of the street lamps or a sign of awareness, Dib's eyelids fluttered, his mouth perking into a frown. Hope rose, if only for a moment. Jax looked behind him, checking to see if Nye had exited the Jezebel as well.  
  
/If he wakes up, he can make a run for it and it won't be my fault. There has to be a way out of this./ Jax gently slapped Dib's face, trying to shock him into consciousness. /Come on, Dib. There's only so much I can do. You've gotta get up..../ he could hear the back door of the Jezebel open, the rusty hinges singing their off key song. His hopes fell, finding solitude in the void of dilemma. There was no more room or time to change course. Fate had chosen his path and it lay in Nye's malicious hands.   
  
Speak of the Devil and in he walks. Jax could almost feel Nye's presence at his side, a cool static pull that sent shivers up and down the back of his neck. He turned his head, his eyes watching the older student and his movements. He held out a syringe full of a clear liquid, tapping it to get the bubbles out.  
  
"What is that?"  
  
"Expensive." Nye pushed him out of the way, reaching through the narrow doorway and grabbing Dib's arm, pushing the needle through the thin skin at the inside of his elbow. He emptied he syringe into the unconscious body, Dib's eyes fluttering again at the intrusion.  
  
"Why do you have to give him anything?" Jax was facing away from the Jeep, having never been very strong around needles. He could hear Nye pushing the driver's seat back. The click of metal falling into place echoed.  
  
"You gonna play stupid all night long? You drug him up so that he doesn't remember who did it. Even if he does, no cops are gonna take a stoner's word over someone perfectly clean. It's insurance." Nye slid into his seat, slamming the car door and pulling his seat belt over his chest. "Get in."  
  
His tennis shoe's made a slight squeak on the foot rail, but otherwise carried him silently into the forest green Jeep with the body in the back. Nye didn't even wait for Jax to put his seatbelt on. The car peeled out, shooting into traffic around two corners and into the stretch of stars, stoplights and street lamps. Orion looked down from his heavenly post, silent and observant, but unable to intervene as the green Jeep sped off like a comet with dust in its trail and empty streets to shoot endlessly across. The yellow stripes almost seemed solid down the center of the asphalt roads. It was like sailing over a black river, with yellow fish skipping beside the boat. Jax let his arm dangle out the side of the car, his fingers tracing the wind as his mind wandered to the surroundings rather than the present activities and those that would transpire later. The moon looked like a ghostly galleon, floating on the backs of mortality, laughing at what must have been only a second in its lifetime, watching the feeble mistakes of people who would pass in the blink of an eye. For a moment, Jax could believe whatever happened would make little difference in the broader scope of life. In the end, what was one person? But in every moment afterwards, the same thoughts haunted his mind. What was one person to the people who loved them? And what was one person to themselves? Everything. Even the means to an end.  
  
His head began to ache, whether from the cold wind blasting against his temples or the deep sinking feeling in his chest. "Where are we going?"  
  
Nye's cocky grin was almost unbearable. "Alpha Omega."  
  
"The sorority?"   
  
"The yin to our yang." Nye flipped off an early morning jogger in a yellow jumpsuit. "Bunch of bible pushing prudes living in their homemade convent. They could use the excitement."  
  
Jax's questions were detoured by a rustling behind him, both his and Nye's attention going to the back seat.  
  
Dib had curled up on himself, his lips moving with a barely audible whimper. It was hard to tell if he was aware or just dreaming, if he was squinting from lack of glasses or if his eyes were squeezed shut to block out the nightmares.  
  
"Well, well, well. Sleeping Beauty decided to join us." Nye's foot pressed harder on the gas, shooting across the intersection as the light went yellow. "How's he doin'?"  
  
Jax swallowed the lump in his throat as he leaned between the front seats, putting himself halfway between the stick shift and the small area allowed for back seat passenger's legs. He could see tremors racing over Dib's naked flesh as he shivered in the cool breeze, his lips a pale shade ranging between purple and mauve. They moved in the same sequence as he muttered his mantra of security. Jax leaned back as far as he dared, trying to make out what he was whispering.  
  
"NothingcanhurtmeZim'llsavemenothingcanhurtmeZim'llsaveme...."  
  
"What's he saying?"  
  
Jax shook his head. "It's...not important..." He lifted a hand, pressing it to Dib's taut brow. "I'm so sorry, Dib," he whispered.  
  
"DON' TOUCH ME!! YOU AREN'T ZIM!!"  
  
"FUCK!" The car swerved at Dib's outburst, Nye driving into the opposite lane of traffic and swaying back into the correct flow with only a few more expletives and honking white headlights. "What the fuck was that?"  
  
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"  
  
"I'm sorry! I didn't do anything! I swear!" Jax felt Nye's hand grip the back of his shirt and pull him back to his seat.  
  
"Shut him up!" Nye barked. "He's gonna get us caught!"  
  
/Good./ Jax nodded, despite his internal glee, turning back around. "Dib, it's okay! Be quiet! Shh!"  
  
"Not like that!" Nye reached blindly over to the passenger side of the Jeep, his hand fumbling with the glove compartment. It opened, spilling an assortment plastic wrapped substances and cigarette cartons. A few pairs of gloves and a roll of duct tape were stashed in the back. "Get those. Put the gloves on first then shut his trap."  
  
Jax complied automatically, snapping the latex over his cool flesh and biting into the strip of duct tape he pulled free from the roll. Dib's hollering became futile muffles under the silver colored adhesive strip, lost in the screaming wind over the Jeep.  
  
They drove on for endless moments, uninterrupted, the night eternal and annoyingly still. Past the city and into residential areas the traffic became nonexistent, the stars their only companion on their twilight ride. Cars were parked in the streets while driveways remained clear to make room for play under the basketball hoops. The lawns glowed blue in the moonlight, each car standing guard over their owner's property like glowing-eyed dogs. The real pets slept indoors, their shadows seen in the wisping curtains, curled up near the windowpanes.   
  
It was quite possible to say Jax had never seen this part of the college town; his exploits only reached as far from campus to the local club scene. He knew Alpha Omega despite this, just by the look of it: three wooden crosses erected before a tall two-story building. The car came to a full stop across the street from it, the engine kicking out and leaving only the song of the crickets to play in their ears as well as the muffled cries in the backseat.  
  
"What now?" Jax asked, even though he was pretty sure what he was supposed to do just looking at the house.  
  
Nye took his ignorance with a grain of salt, reaching under his seat and pulling a very long line of coiled rope, looping it over his shoulder and putting the car keys in his pocket.  
  
"Grab Dib and follow me," he instructed.  
  
The doors of the Jeep opened with a slight squeal, bouncing with the lost weight as they both exited the vehicle. Jax pushed back his own seat and pulled his wriggling friend out, while Nye trekked up the sorority's yard to scope out the scene.   
  
It seemed like so little time had passed, even though time slowed to a waltz. Or perhaps it was the other way around. Before he knew it, Jax stood looking at the wooden crosses, his eyes stuck on the form tied to the one of the right. It had seemed to take forever to get him up there; the wooden stakes were almost eleven feet tall to where the horizontal bar connected. First a rope around Dib's waist to hoist him up, then many ties passing the rope back and forth under his arms and around the crossbar until his arms were nestled against the harsh wood. Then around and around, his body coiled in the rope to keep his trashing legs at bay. Dib looked like a meal trapped in a snake's grasp, or perhaps a sacrifice to some Greek god. Nye's god. Pi Alpha Phi. And, Jax thought with a shudder, his own god now.  
  
Nye lit a cigarette, the reddish orange glow burning the night's darkness. "How does it feel to hang an angel?"  
  
Jax's cold stare was no match for the smoke-blowing demon's characteristic cool. Perhaps in the most intelligent move he'd made all night, Jax retreated to the Jeep.  
  
Nye's eyes never left the golden gaze that looked down at him from the cross, glaring with tears and screaming with a voice unheard. He took a drag from his cigarette, a pale smile alight in the moon's glow.  
  
"Friendship doesn't amount to anything in a world run by greed and self gratification. Remember that, Dib. Everyone has a pretext." Nye's cigarette hit the soft dew crested grass, rubbed and extinguished by his booted foot.  
  
In the remnants of smoke, in the dust of the Jeep's retreat, and under the careful watch of Orion, Dib stopped screaming.   
  
**  
I had origonaly scripted out the whole getting him up there and tying him down part but no one cares about the mechanics of it all. It's boaring. I wonder how much of what Nye said is true ::looks at her list of IRL friends:: Oh yeah.. that's right. I don't have any. BECAUSE THEY ALL FRICKEN USED ME! ::composes self:: Oh well, atleast they weren't as bad as Nye. Atleast I don't remember being tied naked to a cross.... 


	12. This is for You

I guess there's a bit of confusion. The time line is skewed for creative purposes but it goes: Over a Drink, To Hang an Angel, Knocks at the Door, and then this one. In other words, "Dib gets drugged, Jax and Nye hang him from the cross, Jax calls Zim and Zim escapes" is the proper order. But it's more suspencful this way ^,~ It's all in order of events from this point on though (which should only be one more chapter)  
  
For those of you upset because there was no revenge sceen in Backward Spirals, take heed of the R warning here. This one's for you.  
**  
  
  
The flash of lights and sirens were practically muted by the sounds of the Jezebel. Beside the bar, two cops sat, one old and grouchy while the other looked into the dancing crowd with an almost jealous statement, the music pulsing through his veins and setting his fingers to tap the steady beat against the bar. The older one, a glowing badge upon his breast and a graying mustache over his lip, nailed the bartender with scrutiny.  
  
"So you're saying you didn't see who this kid was with? Didn't even see him leave?"  
  
Nye rubbed the inside of a glass with his washcloth till it squeaked. "I tend the bar. It's not my business to watch freshman and make sure no upper classmen are buying them drinks. If this guy got drunk and hurt, that's his problem, not the Jezebel's and not mine."  
  
The older cop nodded. "I understand that, sir. But you said yourself that it was a slow night. Are you sure you didn't see anything?"  
  
"Slow nights still mean at least twenty people. Plus, anybody would have come or left while I was away."  
  
"You left during your shift?"  
  
Mischievous eyes glimmered. "There was a fight between my friends. Guy named Jax was getting harassed and I left to break it up."  
  
"Jax Mayfield?" The younger cop looked down at a small notepad, reading off the name at the top of the list. "Isn't he that Dib guy's friend?"  
  
Nye set the cup down and pulled another one from beneath the counter, pouring a beer for the two policemen. "Now that you mention it, yeah. I think I remember them being friends at one point. Had a falling out at the turn of the semester, if I remember correctly. Yeah, Jax sat right there telling me about it." He pushed the glasses before them. "Joys of being a bartender. You get to hear everyone's crap. Here, complements of the house."  
  
The younger cop grabbed for one with a smile, but his hand was flagged away as his superior rejected the offering. "Thanks but no thanks. We're still on the job."  
  
Nye took the drinks back behind the bar, pouring them down the drain. "Well, if I can't get you something to drink, can I expect this meeting to be over soon? I've a date tonight."  
  
Older Cop nodded, getting up off the very bar stool Dib had sat in the night before. He brushed the imaginary dust from his shirt, gesturing for the rookie to head out. "If you can think of anything else, please contact us." He pushed a card across the table. "If not, we'll be in touch."  
  
Nye took the card, looked at it as though he were reading it and pocketed it. "Thank you. I will. Good luck."  
  
The two policemen exited the building, Nye flipping them off when he was sure they couldn't see.  
  
/Blue-collared fucks think they can pin this shit on me./ He poured himself a beer, despite policies, and drank until his nose twitched with the intoxicating foam. /I'd like to see them try./   
  
His manager came around the corner from the back room, a disapproving look on his face. "You're not supposed to drink in front of patrons."  
  
"Blow me." Nye tipped his glass over, spilling the beer onto the floor over the drain. "I'm leaving. I got places to go."  
  
His manager nodded. "Fucking punk. Get the fuck out of my club before I call the police back in here. You're more trouble than you're worth."  
  
"Better than being worthless." Nye flipped him off as he untied his apron from his waist and hung it from the nail in the backroom. He didn't bother to put his jacket on, merely taking it down from the hanger and folding it over his arm as he strolled out the exit and into the dimly lit night. The single street lamp hummed with insects that flew around the magic lantern.  
  
The hairs on the back of his neck rose, a shiver passing over his body like the hand of a ghost. It was an eerie tension, invisible to the eye, but sensed with guilt and paranoia. Nye looked around discreetly, his hand reaching out to the door of his Jeep as his gaze wandered the shadows. He knew something was there. He could feel the eyes upon him almost as painfully as a hot poker to his skin. His hand reached into his pocket, fingering the shell of his pocket knife.   
  
"You gonna stay in the shadows all night, you sick fuck, or are you gonna come here and try your luck mugging me?" He slowly flipped the blade to his knife out of the shell, still holding it disclosed in his pocket.  
  
The shadows began to twitch mockingly, carrying knowing laughter over their soft waves.  
  
"I know it was you."  
  
Nye jumped, turning around to face nothing but darkness and the glowing red exit sign of the building. "Zim?"  
  
A can skittered across the asphalt, rolling to a stop and Nye's feet. He stared at it for a moment, tracing the direction it had come from. The slightly darker silhouette of a man stood beyond the illumination of the streetlight.   
  
"Zim. How nice to see you up and running again." Nye's malicious smile spread across his pale face. "Speaking of running, don't you have some place to be? Like halfway home by now? I heard the police checked Dib's room today. Seems they didn't find any trace of you. I don't know how you managed to get out in time, but I do admit some surprise at seeing you still here. A smart man would have left by now."  
  
"People like you don't deserve to live."   
  
Nye laughed haughtily. "People like me are life. We are the gods of our generation; idols of fancy and fantasy. It's people like you, who hide under false innocence and shun your instincts, that don't deserve to live. Anyone who can't live their lives the way they want because of some phony idealistic value they've placed on material things, deserves to be used and abused by those who can and do." He watched the stoic shadow, his mind wondering how to bring him into the light. It would be much easier to stab someone you could see. "By the way, Zim, how's Dib?"   
  
The shadow lurched as Nye's smug smile opened into a toothy grin. That had done it, he was sure. But suddenly the shadow didn't look quite like a man anymore. Six long bony outlines appeared, stretching out like skeletal wings, then folding down to the ground, lifting the phantom body up into the twilight. They clinked like metal with every movement, rising to almost ten feet as they stretched and clattered. The light from the street lamp caught the chrome extensions, a soft glow shining off as more and more joined, bringing shadows into painful life.   
  
With horror-filled eyes, Nye saw the six metal legs carry the ruby-eyed being into focus. It could only have been Zim. The face was the same green color, though the eyes and antennae stretching from the head were strange additions. He looked like something out of this world. Indeed, he was.  
  
"What the fuck?" Humanity's first instinct kicked in: survival. Nye reached for the handle to his Jeep, preparing to flee the scene, as all who want to live to fight another day do. His clammy hands grasped the black bar only to meet the forest-green exterior with his face. His nose cracked on impact, sending sparks of pain through his head and blood spilling out over his mouth as he cursed and sputtered. How Zim had gotten to him so quickly was only the second thing on his mind. The first was how they hell he could get out of it. The knife in his pocket seemed heavier, begging for use with every inch. His hand slipped in to grab it as he was forced to turn around, his back slamming into the Jeep this time while crimson eyes blazed in his vision.  
  
With a swift arc he planted the blade of his knife in the nightmare's chest. Zim's face cringed, but only slightly, as one of his real arms wrapped around Nye's wrist and assisted in the blade's removal. The human's eyes grew wide, his fears escalating as his heart pounded in his ears to accompany the ringing from the previous encounter with his car.  
  
"Fucking shit! Wha... What the fuck ARE you?!"  
  
A metal appendage appeared out of nowhere, stabbing through Nye's shoulder and into the Jeep, another accompanying on the other side. Nye's howl of pain was masked by the music of the club as bones were broken, blood was spilt, and muscles tore.  
  
With hate in his eyes and blood on his breath, Zim lowered himself to gaze into the human's terror-filled face. "I am Revenge."  
  
One smooth green hand came down on the human's forehead, pushing it back against the Jeep and holding him steady. In his right hand was Nye's pocketknife. Nye saw the glimmer of moonlight dance over the blade just before it scratched down his face broadside, peeling his flesh away strip by strip. The blood from his nose was joined by that of his cheek, as pale peach was sliced away and crimson muscle made visible. Zim's fierce grip kept the human's face still, though he screamed and wriggled to escape the blade.   
  
From cheekbone to chin the blade returned, slicing away the human exterior, trying to find the evil that set him apart. Like a rotten fruit, he intended to cut the ugliness away. The skin fell away from the face easily, the sharpened blade gliding under and pulling it free from tendons and nerves. Piece by piece, he disassembled Nye's face. When his cheeks were gone and nothing but red, he moved to his nose, severing it completely from his face and leaving a nub hollow space. His lips, vile and destructive, were taken as well. For all the trouble they had caused, the hate they had spread, and the deeds they had spoken, the lips were forced down his throat.  
  
Nye gagged, his mind a frenzy of thoughtless thought, but well aware one did not willingly swallow their own lips. The choice was not his. It was time he, quite literally, ate his own words. Another of Zim's appendages sprouted and pushed them down his throat fiercely, severing his tongue in the same act.  
  
The face void of a human visage, Zim traced the blade down the human's chest, the blade skipping and digging into choice parts as it bounced a trail down his torso. One quick slice and his stomach was an open orifice, spilling human organs into view. Zim's hand plunged into the warm innards, grabbing hold of the long and tube shaped one and pulling, bringing it into the cold night air.   
  
Nye's body wracked in white-hot pain, his mind begging for unconsciousness. For death. He could feel something slick and warm wrap around his neck, the tug from his open gut telling him without looking that it was his intestines. The red eyes of the angel of death looked on him without remorse and without gratification. It was as though he were no more an accomplishment than stomping out a spider, a small death among other small creatures. Zim's metal appendages withdrew from the human's body, the useless mass falling to the ground, splashing in it's own blood and crashing to the pile of discarded skin.  
  
Zim looked down at him, one hand still gripping the trail of entrails he'd pulled from his belly. He moved to the back of the jeep, wrapping the innards around the spare tire in the back. With keys he'd stolen and a disdainful glance behind him, Zim got into the Jeep and drove off with his prey dragging in his wake.   
  
**  
I may rewrite that later. I don't write well till seven but I wanted to save tonight for the last chapter (because i love it in all it's unwritten glory). Anyway..... pirate. 


	13. Goodbye to Death

This is not the last chapter This is me thinking "Oh, that would be great!" and writting. So the last chapter _should_ be the next one. Anyway, here you go.   
  
**   
  
Zim stood before the tombstone. It looked like all the others that marked the cemetery: a tall broad stone with dark engravings that read names and dates. A bouquet of black roses lay by its side, looking only a day old, while around it withered and decaying flowers filled the air with their musk of death. Zim kneeled, placing the lone white carnation he had brought on the grass covered mound. His fingers danced across the cold stone marker, tracing the three curved letters of the name with solemn respect and longing.   
  
"It didn't have to end like that," he muttered. Words unspoken in life seemed to flow to the dead. One never had to worry about rejection or making an ass out of oneself when the audience was dead. "We could have done something. I know you'd have agreed with me. They were bastards."   
  
He sighed, holding his jacket closer as the wind picked up across the barren field of stone... He'd driven home, back to the first place he'd ever learned to call home, only the night before. He'd have come sooner, he assured himself, if he hadn't had to destroy the evidence against him. What was left of the dragging body was burned, the car completely incinerated with patented Irkin technology and the trail of gore wiped away in the night. Revenge was dirty business, but it didn't need to be incriminating.   
  
"You probably would have done a better job than me," Zim commented, picking up the black roses and positioning his carnation among them, a bright spot amidst darkness. "But what matters is that it's over. The nightmare has ended."   
  
He held his palm flat against the tombstone, a gentle smile crossing his melancholy features. "Maybe if you ask real nice, someone on the other side will let you take a crack at him. If your gods were anything like ours, they would enjoy the show."   
  
The wound in his chest began to ache, whether from heartbreak or Nye's last attempt at fighting back against inevitability. He reached under the jacket, feeling the wetness of blood on his fingertips. He'd opened it up again. He cursed silently, a muttered sound of annoyance as he applied some pressure to it and waited for the bleeding to cease.   
  
His eyes wondered to the next row of tombstones, having read them many times before. This was, after all, the Membrane family plot. /Beloved wife and mother. May your memory keep for eternity,/ he read. Zim had never known family. He had observed them, created a pair of useless models, and watched enough mind rotting television to know the basic roles and feelings behind one, but had never known a mother's touch, a father's pride, or a sibling's taunt. What he knew were stories, each one a fairytale. For such pitiful creatures, humans did have one thing Irkins did not. Unconditional love. And for that Zim envied every last stinking one of them.   
  
But, as it was prone to do, Zim's mind began to wander. From stone to stone came visions of Dib, the Dib that had been so long ago that he seemed ancient. The Dib who fought and teased, whose head was always too big for his body and mind too fixed on the paranormal to see the obvious. Zim could remember a time when Dib had told him he had once let Gir into his home, spending the day talking and watching TV. He had called it the day he had found out Zim's mission was a fraud and the alien had been banished.   
  
Zim remembered the day as well. /It was the day I wore Gir's costume and came home knowing I loved a human./   
  
A history of spying and unrequited emotions flew like life before a dying man, repeating themselves in an ever-changing manner through times and trials. Sadness, death, depression, healing, sadness... Zim's mind spun with the merry-go-round of thought.   
  
/It doesn't matter any more. He knows.../ Zim closed his eyes, blocking past mistakes. /He knew I had done it and why before he left. In the end I told every secret./   
  
With eyes growing tired and body weary, Zim placed his fingers on the tombstone once more. "I have to go now. It's time I saw him again. To put an end to it all. Just one last time." He stepped away, unable to turn his back on the stone marker, walking backwards to the gate. "I wish you had been there, Gaz. He always listened to you more than me."   
  
The stone tablet did not answer, but Zim could pretend to hear her shouting at him to leave her alone anyway. She would have been right. It was time he left the dead where they were and addressed the living. Ridicule or none.   
  
He headed off towards the Membranes' home.   
  
**   
  
After reading what everyone wrote in their reviews, I kinda feel bad for sticking with my original plot. Oh well. I have to be true to Iggins.. I mean Niko. Yeah... 


	14. Life in Laughter

A story is only worth its last chapter. It can be great for the going but if you screw up the ending, it's nothing but a disappointment. I hope that's not true with this one. I almost regret this having to end. It's been fun writing. I really had to push myself to get started, but I'm glad I didn't let my "friends" interfere with this project. Of all my stories of any genre I've written, past and present, this is my favorite ^,~ I'm glad to see so many other people think so as well.   
  
  
  
Anyway, the moment you've all been waiting for. I just hope it was worth the wait.   
  
**   
  
The steam from the showerhead lulled his restless mind into submission as the hot water stabbed and bounced off Dib's tired and raw flesh. The rope burns on his arms, legs and waist made him hiss under the shower's ministrations, but he remained under the constant stream, letting the water cascade over his shoulders and engulf his body in an invisible shield. His hair fell to his face, the long sickle shaped extension looping forward with the weight of the water while the rest laid flat on his head. Water. So many memories involved the water. Dib shook his soaked head, droplets of water spraying off and splattering across the shower walls. He didn't want to think about anything that had happened. Not before, not after, not during. Nothing but the way the water made his muscles relax and his sinuses clear; the way the dirt and grime spiraled down the drain to never be seen again. He looked down, noting the blood twisting with the water, brown in it's diluted state. His wrists had opened up again, as well as any number of thinner scratches that adorned his body. It was almost mesmerizing, the way droplets fell from his arm and slashed into the water. One might imagine blood to do the same as water droplets, instantly becoming one of the whole as they plopped into the water. But they didn't. The blood seemed to stick together, even fully immersed, holding on to its form until the water pulled it apart and turned from crimson into an almost green as it melted in and was carried down the drain. Dib held his bleeding wrist out from the shower's pulse, letting the red drops pool and spill off his hand, watching their futile attempts to stay as one, only to be pulled into the collective.   
  
/This one is Nye,/ he thought, watching another drop of blood fall from his hand. /This one is Jax./ Each droplet faded into the tinted water.   
  
/This one is--/ Two drops fell simultaneously from his wrist, hitting the water's surface at the same time. They, unlike the ones before them, held together longer, their crimson hue lasting when all others had faded to murky brown. /That one was me...and.../   
  
The water suddenly turned cold, the variant between warm and freezing never occurring. It was just cold all of a sudden. Dib's golden eyes shot wide as he jumped back from the steady stream. Reaching, he turned the shower off. The rest of the water and blood cycloned down the drain.   
  
Grabbing the towel laid out for him, Dib quickly began to dry off, being as careful as he could to avoid irritating his healing wounds. The white towel was tie-dyed in red before he was done. /I should have stayed in the hospital till the worst of the cuts began to heal. They all told me so./ Dib put the towel in the trash bin, grabbing the first aid kit under the sink. /But what do you do when the worst cuts are on the inside? The ones left by betrayal?/ He dabbed some ointment over his wrists, squinting at the feel and look of it before grabbing the gauze and doing his best to wrap them. /Besides, you can't hide from the newspaper reporters when you're in the hospital. I'm better off here. Home./ With his wrists bandaged, he moved on to his waist, tying the gauze around him like a belt. He tried not to look in the mirror. It disgusted him. A reflection of pain, a roadmap of twisting burns and cuts, some with the imprint of the rope even, traveling across his flesh. That night...had it not been for a cop on his nightly rounds, Dib knew he would have died. Cold, naked, stretched across the wooden cross with ropes tied too tightly across his body, visions of horrors unmentionable dancing like fire before his eyes and something burning in his veins. And, amidst it all, a blond-haired demon with smoke trailing from his lips speaking words in a language he could not understand. Dib picked up another towel, shaking it through his hair to drain it of the moisture. Towel-dried and clean, he could feel the stubborn sickle strand begin to set itself back up atop his head. What an odd sort of cowlick to have.   
  
He managed to make it out of the bathroom without looking in the mirror, not bothering to cover himself with a towel as he walked across the hall to his room. It wasn't like anyone would see him. His father was in his lab, as always. Dib was the only one in the house; had been since his sister had passed away two years before. Living at home was as good as living alone, only someone else paid for everything without using any of it themselves.   
  
His room was much as it had been all his life: little pieces of the paranormal adorning every wall with shelves of his personal findings. Most of them echoed the same name. Zim. It was the reason he had his findings categorized reverse alphabetically. Zim, Zim, Zim. Look left and there was a picture of him. Look right and there was a camera feed from his house. So much childish play still in effect. In all those years, the only thing that never seemed to get boring or dull was Zim. Always changing, always thinking of something new, always saying the most ridiculous things that made one guess as to whether they should laugh or feel sorry for the fool. But as much as he changed, some things always stayed the same. Like the fact that he would always be there.   
  
Dib trudged to his closet, grabbing familiar clothes he'd never grown out of. Style-wise, anyway. Black jeans, blue shirt, black trench coat. They were loose fitting, a far cry from what Jax had dressed him in so often. Dib decided he liked his own style better and closed the closet doors.   
  
He had caught a glimpse of movement in the camera feed from Zim's house the night before. He'd seen Zim had returned, saw the remorseful contact covered eyes look directly at his "hidden" camera. He was coming today. Everything in Dib's body told him it. Clean and dressed, Dib was ready for him.   
  
He walked down the stairs to his kitchen, deciding to eat while he waited. On the kitchen table was a newspaper and a pen. Dib figured his father had gotten up and started on the crossword puzzle as usual, but was surprised to see he hadn't taken it with him to his lab. He looked down at the paper. It wasn't even turned to the crossword puzzle. It was still laying with the front page in full view.   
  
"College Calamity; Murder strikes UNS."   
  
/Murder?/ Food forgotten, Dib pulled his chair up and sat, opening the paper. The picture on the front page was of two people he knew very well. The caption under the picture led little to the imagination as to what the article read.   
  
"Here pictured Jax Mayfield, 19, main suspect in the murder of Nye Redford, 22, behind local club."   
  
For a moment nothing registered. Dib began to read the article anyway, his mind begging for clarification.   
  
"Jax Mayfield, a known partier and member of the dangerous fraternity Pi Alpha Phi, was arrested yesterday for the murder of fellow fraternity member Nye Redford. Pi Alpha Phi has been linked to many illegal acts since its establishment in 1964, including the death of Guy Pearson in 1998 and the recent incident with fellow student Dib Membrane. Police found Redford's body mangled and unrecognizable behind local club, 'The Jezebel,' where he worked as bartender. Police soon after found Mayfield's fingerprints in the employee section of the club. Upon questioning, Mayfield denied charges of murder but admitted his guilt as a participant in the Membrane case. He stands a minimum of fifteen years for attempted murder and could be sentenced to life if convicted for Redford's death."   
  
Dib put the paper down, his hands coming away with black smudges from the ink. Clarity could be a bitch at times. And in clarity, Dib knew exactly what that pained look Zim had given him through the camera had meant. He had killed Nye. The alien had actually done what all that threatening had alluded to. Dib tried to calm his breathing, but in the end found he couldn't keep in inside any more.   
  
He laughed.   
  
Dib laughed so hard, he thought he would tear open his cuts again. His eyes watered with mirth as his body shook in uncontrollable laughter. It really was quite funny. As time passed and the laugher subsided to chuckles, he wondered when the last time he'd laughed like that had been. Probably not since his sister had died. Too long. He took the pen his father had set beside the paper and began to doodle on the picture's faces. Horns for Nye, long pointed teeth and smoke coming from his mouth. The perfect picture of the demon within. Jax was adorned with a snake around his neck and bars drawn vertically over him. Neither looked very good in the pictures to begin with, but now they looked like little scribbles a kindergartner would draw.   
  
"Rest in piece, Nye," he muttered with a smile. "I hope Satan's punishment for you will be ten times worse than whatever Zim did. And Jax, you'll make a great prison bitch." With that thought, he drew a frilly shirt on the brunette, smiling at his horrible drawing skills. "Tell Big Ben hi for me."   
  
"Son? Are you alright?"   
  
Dib stared, turning around in his chair to glance at his father's hidden face. "I'm sorry. Was I being too loud?"   
  
"I heard you laughing," Professor Membrane stated, putting his hand on the back of the chair. "I'd forgotten what it sounded like."   
  
Though he couldn't tell visually, Dib could sense the smile in his father's words.   
  
"Are you feeling alright?" he asked again.   
  
Dib nodded. "You read the paper?"   
  
"Yes. The attorney told me about it all yesterday. I was going to tell you, but I wasn't sure how." He patted his son on the back. "I should have known you'd be okay. You're a Membrane. You're strong, determined, intelligent and related to me!"   
  
"Thanks, Dad."   
  
Professor Membrane sighed, his gloved hand reaching out to ruffle Dib's hair. "I'm glad to hear you laughing again," he said as he walked back out and towards his lab.   
  
Dib turned back to his masterpiece, taking the front page in his hands and crumbling it up into a ball. He debated on whether or not he would burn it, but placed it in the trash bin instead.   
  
The doorbell rang.   
  
Dib looked towards the door, his hand grasping the table. His fingers curled around the pen. He waited, wondering if it was his mind playing tricks on him.   
  
The doorbell rang again.   
  
Taking the pen with him, Dib walked to the door, gulping down the knot in his throat. He'd thought about what he was going to say all night, but it all seemed to vanish in a puff of smoke. He reached for the doorknob and pulled open the door slowly, watching the green arms materialize in his vision.   
  
Zim's green face was disguised, but solemn nonetheless. It looked like he hadn't slept in a while. Even his contacts portrayed the foggy, slumberless haze. He stood in the doorway, defeated, tired, and miserable.   
  
"Hello, Dib."   
  
Dib nodded, laughter forgotten. "Zim."   
  
"I just wanted to tell you that...I'm sorry. For everything. I shouldn't have tried to be something in your life that I wasn't." His eyes begged for what words did not describe. "I love you. I will always love you. But I'm willing to go away if that's what you want. I've already packed up the voot cruiser. I am leaving today. I thought you might like to know that. It's your life, Dib. I won't interfere with it anymore."   
  
Dib could almost feel Zim's sadness crushing him. "You promise?"   
  
Zim nodded, his heart breaking into a million pieces. "On my honor as an Irkin." He stepped back from the door, his eyes staring at the ground. "I guess this is goodbye, then." His feet beseeched to run away, while his heart ached to stay, to hold, to beg. "Goodbye, Dib."   
  
A warm hand reached out for his, holding it tightly and drawing it near. Zim looked down, seeing the perfect mixture of green and peach as Dib held his hand. He gazed up, hopeful, into Dib's golden eyes.   
  
Dib said nothing. He pulled Zim's hand closer, turning it until the back of it faced him. Then, with the pen he still carried, marked in blue ink on the taut skin. When he was finished, he let go, letting Zim look at his drawing.   
  
"A flag?"   
  
Dib nodded.   
  
"What does this mean?"   
  
"It means you're mine now." Dib smiled at Zim's perplexed face, dropping the pen and wrapping both arms around his neck. "It means I love you."   
  
Zim's arms reacted on their own, grasping the warm body and holding him tightly while every withheld passion played before him.   
  
  
And while all the world screamed to prove they were still alive, Zim and Dib laughed.   
  
**   
  
Abrupt, but I think I like it like that and I hope you all do too. I also hope I continue to entertain you all in the future. In fact, I have another fic idea already ^,~; It's kinda very naughty though, so I'm debating whether or not I'm really gonna do it. I'd hate to give my beta reader a nosebleed. Once again, a big round of applause for Karyx!   
  
Also, I'm making an Invader Zim Slash/Yaoi archive for all MxM IZ pairing fics and art. To see the not finished site-   
  
http://angelfire.com/goth/izslash/index.html   
  
  
Instructions on how to be featured in the archive are available there as well. Please join and make it easier for fans to find their IZ slash needs! 


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